HF 


UC-NRLF 


Ifi    724 


"THE  TIE  THAT  BINDS" 


TWENTY- FIFTH 
ANNIVERSARY 


THE  SPERRY  &  HUTCHINSON  CO. 
\(114  FIFTH  AVENUE 
NEW    YORK 


•  <• 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS 


PAGE 

FOREWORD 5 

OUR  SILVER  ANNIVERSARY 9 

EXPLANATION 28 

OUR  SILVER  ANNIVERSARY 29 

SERVICE 37 

ETHICS  vs.  PRACTICAL  BUSINESS 41 

THE   BUYER'S  MARKET 43 

VOLUME  vs.  NET  PROFITS 47 

HIGH  LEVEL  OF  PRICES 49 

SELLING 52 

CASH  TRADE 54 

PUBLIC  OPINION 56 

CO-OPERATIVE  CO-OPERATION 62 

THE  REASONS  WHY! 66 

THE  "S.&H."  COMPANY'S  DISCOUNT  SERVICE 68 

WHAT  ARE  THE  FACTS? 71 

How  TO  USE  "S.&H."  GREEN  STAMPS 73 

THE  THINKING  MERCHANT 77 

GIVE  THE  PUBLIC  A  CHANCE 79 

"AsK  THE  MAN  WHO  KNOWS" 82 

FIGURES,  FODDER  AND  FINANCE 84 

REACHING  THE  WOMAN  WHO  BUYS 86 

CHARACTER  AND  CREDIT.  .  88 


M194558 


FOREWORD 


THE  biggest  little  thing  in  the  advertising  world  that 
has  suffered  much  in  the  past  both  from  prejudice 
and  ignorance  has  been  the  Trading  Stamp.  The 
Sperry  &  Hutchinson  Company  has  owned,  developed  and 
operated  the  Green  Trading  Stamp  Service  for  a  period 
of  twenty -five  years  in  the  face  of  all  of  this  opposition. 
As  the  promoter  of  a  Discount  System  for  Cash  Trade, 
it  has  been  my  ambition  to  welcome  all  manner  of  investi- 
gations from  Federal  Trade  Commissions,  public  bodies 
and  individuals,  with  an  idea  of  ascertaining  just  what 
our  troubles  were  and  with  the  further  idea  of  informing 
those  who  had  a  prejudice  or  were  ignorant  of  our  propo- 
sition in  order  that  they  might  become  better  acquainted 
with  it. 

Of  course  I  know — as  you  must  know — that  twenty- 
five  years  of  doing  business  with  merchants  has  brought 
us  much  experience  and  has  taught  us  many  things  that 
no  one  could  know  or  learn  excepting  from  this  experi- 
ence; and  likewise  it  would  naturally  follow  that  the 
Trading  Stamp  idea  had  been  studied  and  quite  thor- 
oughly understood  by  those  agencies  in  the  business  world 
that  are  supposed  to  stimulate  sales  and  aid  distribution. 

I  believe  all  of  this  has  happened,  for  I  know  that  we 
have  more  satisfied  merchants  doing  business  with  us,  and 
the  business  is  on  a  higher  plane  than  it  has  ever  been. 
I  think  it  is  fully  understood  to-day  that  the  merchant 
who  uses  our  Discount  Service  does  not  use  it  in  place  of 
anything  else.  I  mean  by  that  it  does  not  supplant  his 
advertising  expense,  his  billboard  display,  his  show  win- 
dow dressing  expense,  his  delivery  service,  or  the  many 
other  things  that  he  offers  by  way  of  inducement.  Ours 
is  separate  and  distinct;  operates  in  a  field  all  its  own; 
and  attaches  itself  to  the  community  that  trades  at  the 
merchant's  store  only  by  reason  of  his  propaganda  and 
his  continual  advertising  of  our  Service  as  a  feature  of  his 


F  O.R  E  W  O  R  D 


store.  Those  who  have  done  this  are  the  ones  that  are 
now  using  Stamps  because  they  have  obtained  the  results 
that  justify  a  Stamp  Service. 

The  idea  of  the  use  of  premiums  for  the  promotion  of 
trade  is  still  strong  in  the  minds  of  everyone  in  every 
country,  everywhere.  It  is  so  natural,  so  reasonable,  and 
so  practical  when  worked  out  in  the  form  of  a  Discount 
Stamp  Service  that  the  buyer  not  only  lends  himself  au- 
tomatically to  the  saving  thus  offered  him,  or  her,  but  it 
becomes  a  habit  and  thus  do  we  promote  not  only  prac- 
tically, but  automatic  savings,  or  thrift. 

Inasmuch  as  the  trade  that  is  promoted  by  the  use  of 
our  Discount  System  is  a  cash  trade,  it  cannot  well  be 
said  that  we  are  promoting  excessive  or  useless  buying  on 
the  part  of  the  public;  and  since  1915  we  have  stopped 
the  prostitution  of  the  Stamp  by  using  it  too  generously. 
A  Stamp  to-day  is  the  token  of  a  discount  on  a  ten-cent 
cash  purchase  at  a  merchant's  store,  and,  as  such,  it  can- 
not very  well  be  condemned  as  being  either  ethically  or 
economically  unsound.  Nor  is  the  sale  of  the  Stamp  to- 
day being  so  generously  pushed  as  toTTave  any  of  the  ele- 
ments of  a  parasite.  The  "S.&H."  Service  is  sold  on 
long-time  contracts  to  good  merchants  and  at  a  standard 
price;  and  I  maintain  that  it  is  far  better  for  this  System 
of  Service  to  have  the  single  management  of  a  national 
organization  such  as  ours  than  to  be  left  in  the  hands  of 
the  individual  merchant  to  handle  as  his  own  difficulties 
and  local  trade  conditions  might  determine,  and  where 
he  could  not  have  the  advantage  of  our  experience.  The 
public  has  a  better  understanding  to-day  of  the  value  of 
the  Stamp  and  the  meaning  of  its  Service,  by  reason  of 
its  being  a  national  system  for  twenty -five  years,  and  the 
merchant  is  and  should  be  free  from  having  to  compete 
with  other  merchants  in  the  same  town  giving  individual 
stamps  and  having  no  control  over  the  same  or  the  crea- 
tion of  a  large  stamp  liability. 

The  "S.&H."  Company  has  progressed  very  much 
within  the  last  five  years  in  the  sense  that  we  are  continu- 
ing to  sell  not  only  a  premium  stamp  to  those  who  prefer 
it  and  who  get  the  best  results  from  it,  but  we  are  like- 
wise selling  a  Stamp  redeemable  in  cash  or  merchandise 
selected  from  the  merchant's  store.  This  has  put  the 


F  O  R  E  W  O  II  D 


Stamp  on  a  higher  plane  of  real  value  to  the  consuming 
public  and  no  doubt  has  had  much  to  do  in  killing  off  the 
small  competitor  or  fly-by-night  individual  who  lived  for 
a  month  or  a  year  and  then  went  out  of  business,  reflect- 
ing very  much  upon  the  integrity  of  the  Stamp  itself  as 
well  as  upon  the  merchants  using  them.  The  Sperry  & 
Hutchinson  Company  early  learned  that  the  integrity  of 
the  Stamp  was  of  the  highest  importance  and  it  has  never 
refused  to  redeem  a  filled  book  of  Stamps — and  it  never 
will.  The  Company  has  not  only  its  capital  and  surplus 
account  of  $1,500,000,  but  has  provided  a  very  strong 
reserve  for  the  redemption  of  all  Stamps  outstanding,  ag- 
gregating $2,000,000.  In  other  words,  it  has  put  the 
business  upon  a  high  plane  of  meeting  many  of  the  old 
objections  and  criticisms  that  were  directed  against  it. 
It  is  following  the  lines  of  the  insurance  companies  that 
establish  reserves  for  all  outstanding  policies;  so  that 
should  the  "S.&H."  Company  at  any  time  go  out  of  bus- 
iness or  undertake  to  liquidate  its  business,  it  has  ample 
reserves  to  take  care  of  its  Stamp  circulation.  This  is 
something  that  retards  the  organization  of  a  new  com- 
pany, and  also  gives  The  Sperry  &  Hutchinson  Company 
a  very  prominent  and  leading  position  in  the  service  field. 

We  are  an  organization  that  sells  service  to  the  mer- 
chant, the  same  as  the  advertising  agency  or  the  news- 
paper, but,  as  I  have  said,  we  are  not  in  the  same  field. 
When  I  say  to  our  merchants  that  we  can  produce  a 
record  showing  that  95  per  cent,  of  the  Stamps  issued  are 
redeemed  and  that  we  have  distributed  in  our  twenty- 
five  years  over  $100,000,000  in  value  to  the  merchants' 
customers  in  the  redemption  of  their  Stamps,  I  am  saying 
something  that  not  only  is  a  matter  of  record,  but  that 
gives  the  Trading  Stamp  business,  as  conducted  by  the 
"S.&H."  Company,  the  rank  of  a  service  company  equal 
to  any  other  advertising  system. 

In  presenting  this  booklet  to  you,  I  make  a  plea  only 
for  fairness,  honesty  and  respect  for  all  that  is  good,  know- 
ing, "This  world  is  but  a  mirror.  As  you  look  upon  it, 
so  it  appears  to  you." 

GEORGE  B.  CALDWELL, 

President, 
The  Sperry  &  Hutchinson  Co. 


The  Late  THOMAS  A.  SPERRY,  Founder 


OUR  SILVER  ANNIVERSARY 


ON  Tuesday  afternoon,  Octo- 
ber 18,  1921,  at  3:30  in  the 
afternoon,  the  Home  Office 
employes  of  The  Sperry  &  Hutchin- 
son  Co.  gathered  at  the  President's 
request  in  his  office  to  dedicate  to 
the  Founder  of  this  business,  the 
late  Thomas  A.  Sperry,  a  very 
beautiful  oil  painting  six  feet  high 
and  three  and  a  half  feet  wide  by 
the  well  known  artist,  Raymond 
Perry,  which  is  symbolical  of  our 
business.  It  represents  the  Mer- 
chant, the  Customer  and  our 
Service  in  "Co-operation"  through 
"the  tie  that  binds"— the  "S.&H." 
Green  Stamp. 

In  the  following  words,  President 
George  B.  Caldwell  explained  the 
purpose  of  the  gathering: 

MR.  GEO.  B.  CALDWELL:  I  have 
called  you  together  here  at  this 
time,  having  two  things  in  mind; 
first,  that  this  is  the  25th  anni- 
versary year  of  the  existence  of 
this  Company,  and  that  therefore 
as  a  Silver  Anniversary  of  25  years 
of  our  business  life  and  business 
career,  it  is  worth  our  while  to 
stop  and  to  give  some  considera- 
tion to  that  fact  and  to  what  has 
been  accomplished  during  the  25 
years  by  this  organization.  The 
second  purpose  of  this  meeting 
I  feel  should  be  a  proper  recog- 
nition of  the  Founder  of  this 
Company,  who,  25  years  ago, 
started  the  Sperry  &  Hutchinson 
organization — Mr.  Thomas  A. 
Sperry.  We  have  invited 
the  artist  to  be  with  us  on  this 
occasion  and  to  say  something 
symbolical  of  our  business.  He 
is  here,  and  at  the  proper  time  will 
have  his  say. 


We  have  always  found  ourselves, 
since  we  started  business  25  years 
ago,  a  part  of  the  merchant's  life; 
and  the  merchant's  life  is  that  of 
catering  continuously  to  the  public 
from  which  he  gets  his  trade. 
The  retail  trade  of  the  country, 
which  we  serve  the  best,  and,  in 
fact,  altogether,  is  composed  of 
department  stores  and  their  sub- 
ordinate stores;  and  if  you  analyze 
that  trade,  it  is  not  new  to  say  to 
you  that  90%  of  it  is  the  trade  of 
women  shoppers.  While  a  picture 
of  the  earning  power  of  the  United 
States,  insofar  as  families  are 
concerned,  is  that  the  average 
family  earns  or  has  come  into  its 
possession  each  year  for  the  pur- 
pose of  defraying  expenses  a  little 
less  than  $600.  There  are  those, 
a  few,  who  exceed  that;  there  are 
many  who  do  not,  so  that  an 
average  is  about  $600  per  family. 
That  money  necessarily  has  to 
provide  the  necessities  of  life;  and 
that  money,  because  the  man  is 
the  bread  earner,  is  turned  over  to 
a  custodian  of  the  home — the 
woman,  and  she  has  it  to  buy  the 
necessities  of  life  for  herself,  her 
husband  and  her  family. 

The  Trading  Stamp,  therefore, 
became  popular  with  the  woman 
who  had  the  money  and  did  the 
buying,  and  we  are  very  grateful 
that  it  was  so,  because  the  human 
nature  of  the  wife,  and  of  the  one 
who  has  to  be  thrifty  and  who 
really  practices  thrift,  either  from 
necessity  or  because  she  loves  to, 
leads  her  to  give  greater  considera- 
tion to  a  discount  of  any  kind,  to  a 
gift  or  premium,  wherever  she 
trades;  to  a  consideration  even  of 


OUR    SILVER    ANNIVERSARY 


deliveries,  and  all  of  those  things 
which  stores  have  learned  to  use 
in  catering  to  the  woman  shopper. 

We  are,  therefore,  largely  in  the 
hands  of  the  women  of  this  nation 
who  are  doing  the  shopping  for 
their  homes,  and  in  that  sense  we 
have  contributed  our  share  to 
them  and  through  them  as  home- 
builders.  Mr.  Sperry  was  not 
unmindful  of  that  fact  and,  inas- 
much as  we  are  so  largely  a 
woman's  proposition,  it  is  not 
surprising  to  you,  I  know,  who  are 
acquainted  with  the  records  of 
this  Company  and  most  of  its 
people,  to  know  that  in  this  home 
office  70%  of  our  payroll  in  the 
point  of  numbers  are  women;  and 
in  the  field,  where  there  are  a 
thousand  or  twelve  hundred  other 
people  engaged,  and  who  we  wish 
we  could  have  here  with  us,  but 
we  cannot,  about  50%  are  women. 
So  you  see  in  our  make-up  we  are 
largely  in  the  hands  of  the  woman. 

We  also  have  as  one  of  our 
principal  stockholders  and  one  of 
our  principal  directors,  a  woman, 
the  wife  of  Mr.  Thomas  A.  Sperry, 
now  the  wife  of  Mr.  Edward  I. 
Goodrich.  Mrs.  Goodrich  learned 
the  lesson  of  the  Trading  Stamp 
because  she  knew,  or  because  she 
was  close  to,  her  husband.  She 
was  a  home  builder  herself.  She 
and  her  husband  went  through  the 
early  vicissitudes  of  building  homes 
and  of  getting  a  foothold  in  busi- 
ness. She  learned  all  the  lessons 
that  Mr.  T.  A.  Sperry  learned 
while  he  lived — their  relationship 
was  that  beautiful — that  close — 
that  confidential.  Since  I  have 
been  here  she  has  been  my  most 
helpful  director  and  vice-president, 
and  therefore  your  best  friend  and 
benefactor.  She  has  very  many 
ideas  that  are  good;  very  many 
ideas  that  are  practical;  and,  be- 


yond all,  a  fidelity  to  a  trust  the 
like  of  which  very  few  women  that 
I  have  ever  known  have  possessed. 
I  have  asked  Mrs.  Goodrich  to 
attend  this  meeting  and,  in  her 
own  way,  to  say  to  you  something 
about  the  early  history  of  this 
business,  so  far  as  she  cares  to  talk 
about  it,  as  well  as  her  own  con- 
nection with  it.  I  now  introduce 
to  you  Mrs.  Goodrich. 

MRS.  KATE  SPERRY  GOODRICH: 
It  has  been  well  said  that  no  people 
rise  to  a  high  degree  of  greatness 
who  do  not  know  or  care  about  the 
achievements  of  their  ancestors. 
So,  too,  it  may  be  well  said  that 
business  industry  and  enterprise 
is  not  based  on  an  enduring  founda- 
tion and  will  not  attain  greatness 
when  the  founder  and  the  idea 
which  brought  it  into  being  are 
ignored.  The  man  who  brought 
to  light  by  incessant  energy  and 
perseverence  any  plan  that  has 
grown  into  gigantic  proportions  is 
inseparably  connected  with  every 
stage  of  its  development  long  years 
after  its  progenitor  has  ceased  to 
be.  An  eminent  statesman  once 
said  that  we  cannot  even  read  of 
the  discovery  of  this  continent 
without  feeling  a  personal  interest 
in  the  event,  and,  I  would  like  to 
add,  a  proprietary  interest  in  the 
country. 

Mr.  Caldwell  has  requested  me 
to  give  a  short  history  of  The 
Sperry  &  Hutchinson  Company 
from  the  time  of  its  inception  up 
to  1921 — the  twenty-fifth  anni- 
versary. Many  people  speculate 
in  their  maturer  years  as  to  their 
earliest  recollections,  and  not  in- 
frequently some  chance  remark 
stimulates  the  mind  so  that  it  goes 
back  further  than  they  had  believed 
possible.  Somewhat  in  this  way, 
Mr.  George  Klock  was  responsible 
for  setting  the  date  of  the  incep- 


10 


OUR    SILVER    A  N  N  J  V  K  R  S  A  R  Y 


tion-of  this  Company  further  hack 
than  I  had  been  able  to  recall. 
Mr.  Klock  recalls  meeting  Mr. 
Sperry  for  the  first  time  in  1891, 
and  distinctly  remembers  the 
numerous  conversations  in  which 
the  Trading  Stamp  idea  was  dis- 
cussed in  its  various  angles;  so 
that  it  can  truthfully  be  said  that 
the  inception  of  this  business  in 
the  mind  of  Mr.  Thomas  A.  Sperry 
was  as  early  as  1891,  if  not  earlier. 

Of  my  own  knowledge,  Mr. 
Sperry,  during  the  next  five  years, 
was  engaged  in  a  close  study  of 
merchandising  conditions  in  con- 
nection with  the  Trading  Stamp 
idea.  He  saw  the  growth  of  the 
numberless  premium  plans  in  use 
at  that  time;  how  inadequate  they 
were,  and  yet  how  acceptable  to 
the  public.  His  work  carried  him 
over  a  large  part  of  the  United 
States,  and  he  had  a  rare  oppor- 
tunity to  study  the  subject  under 
varying  conditions  and  from  all 
angles.  He  had  two  important 
obstacles  to  surmount — one  the 
discovery  of  a  simple,  convenient 
method  whereby  merchants  could 
co-operate  and  the  public  could 
achieve  the  greatest  benefits  with 
the  least  expenditure  of  energy. 
This  he  accomplished  by  the  use  of 
a  system  which  is  in  vogue  to  this 
day.  The  other  obstacle  was  the 
necessity  for  funds  with  which  to 
operate;  and  the  period  between 
1891  and  1896  found  Mr.  Sperry 
working  hard,  studying  ten,  twelve 
and  sixteen  hours  a  day,  with 
more  than  sixty  minutes  in  the 
hour,  and  economizing,  in  order 
that  he  might  have  the  necessary 
money  with  which  to  begin  his 
life  work. 

The  idea,  in  its  origin,  was  pleas- 
ing and  attractive  to  him;  its 
foundation  was  the  domestic  circle; 
to  furnish  the  home  better — the 


social  unit  upon  which  civilization 
rests  in  our  troublesome  world 
today.  The  comfort,  the  con- 
venience, the  beauty,  and  the  care 
of  the  household  has  been  the 
mainspring  of  the  home,  and  will 
continue  to  be  as  long  as  life 
endures.  When,  in  1896,  he  under- 
took the  enterprise,  he  was  willing 
to  sacrifice  every  dollar  that  he 
had  saved,  and  he  took  his  courage 
in  both  hands,  surrendered  his 
position,  which  he  had  most  ably 
filled,  invited  Mr.  Hutch inson  to 
join  him,  and  began  the  work  of 
The  Sperry  &  Hutchinson  Com- 
pany, with  which  his  name  is  still 
and  ever  will  be  connected.  He 
decided  to  carry  as  premiums  every 
facility  of  the  fireside — things  that 
would  impart  not  only  the  spirit 
of  economy,  but  the  spirit  of 
decoration  and  beautifying  the 
home — not  through  charity  which 
subtracts  from  one's  self-respect, 
but  through  thrift,  a  condition 
where  charity  is  not  implied.  The 
idea  to  him  seemed  character- 
building  as  well  as  home-building. 
Mr.  Sperry  had  spent  a  con- 
siderable part  of  his  business  career 
in  the  city  of  Bridgeport,  Con- 
necticut. He  knew  the  local 
conditions,  and  he  had  many 
friends,  so  he  selected  that  city  as 
the  one  most  likely  to  give  him  best 
returns  in  the  shortest  possible 
time.  Bridgeport  was  opened  the 
latter  part  of  1896 — 25  years  ago — 
and  Mr.  Sperry 's  faith  in  the 
premium  business  was  immediately 
justified  by  the  success  that  fol- 
lowed. The  idea  took  root  as  if 
by  magic  and  he  very  quickly 
discovered  that  it  was  not  only  the 
poorer  people,  whom  it  was  his 
especial  desire  to  serve,  who  recog- 
nized the  benefits  to  be  obtained 
from  his  plans,  but  that  the  more 
thrifty  middle  class  and  even  the 


GEORGE  B.  CALDWELL,  President 


OUR     SILVER    ANNIVERSARY 


wealthy  responded  in  such  measure 
that  the  quality  of  merchandise 
carried  in  the  stores  had  to  be 
changed  immediately  to  meet  the 
demands  of  the  general  public 
rather  than  that  of  a  class.  He 
was  naturally  highly  gratified  to 
find  that  apparently  all  classes  of 
people  approved  his  idea  rather 
than  one  out  of  the  many. 

The  success  in  Bridgeport,  which 
was  the  result  of  the  efforts  of 
two  or  three  men,  immediately 
justified  the  employment  of  more 
men  and  the  opening  of  additional 
branches.  To  specify  city  by  city 
and  town  by  town  would  be  to 
infringe  upon  the  functions  of  a 
geography.  It  is  sufficient  to  say 
that  the  plan  spread  like  a  prairie 
fire,  ran  up  the  Hudson  River  to 
Albany,  over  the  trail  of  the  Indian 
through  the  Mohwak  Valley  to 
Buffalo,  and  then  across  our 
prairies  and  vast  deserts  and  over 
and  through  the  mountains  until 
we  reached  the  great  Pacific. 
Each  city  seemed  to  catch  the 
color,  and  that  color  soon  revealed 
many  imitators  and  competitors. 
History  discloses  the  fact  that  it 
is  not  easy  for  the  true-hearted  to 
do  things.  Philosophy,  science, 
invention  and  speculation,  in  all 
of  their  respective  ramifications, 
are  beautiful,  but  they  are  ineffec- 
tual unless  the  household  is  com- 
fortable and  conveniently  embel- 
lished, as  that  adds  joy  and  dignity 
to  the  home  and  existence.  Our 
co-operative  economic  system  of 
exchange  has  grown  into  national 
proportions  by  the  work  and  the 
perseverance  of  our  Sperry  & 
Hutchinson  Company.  Like  all 
reforms,  new  plans,  and  high- 
wrought  purposes,  its  efforts  have 
been  resisted  at  times  and  by  those 
who  should  best  know  the  wonder- 
ful circuit  of  its  wholesome  in- 


fluence. However,  there  are  some 
salient  features  in  the  history  of 
the  Company — one  is  the  jealousy 
with  which  some  merchants  looked 
upon  the  Trading  Stamp  plan. 
That  any  one  of  their  number 
should  select  this  plan  and  make 
a  success  of  it,  while  they  depended 
upon  old-fashioned  methods, 
aroused  an  opposition  which  has 
not  ceased.  This  in  time  led  to 
formal  combinations,  sometimes 
by  a  few  merchants,  sometimes  by 
local  organizations,  and  it  has 
resulted  in  the  introduction  of 
adverse  bills  in  the  legislature  of 
practically  all  states  in  the  union. 
It  was  very  early  demonstrated 
that  Mr.  Sperry  could  not  hope 
for  success  without  strong  oppo- 
sition. This  he  had  in  fullest 
measure,  for  the  business,  in  its 
very  nature,  permitted  of  com- 
petition by  any  one  and  every 
one — those,  who  were  scrupulous 
and  those  who  were  unscrupulous, 
those  who  were  businesslike  and 
those  who  were  unbusinesslike — 
each  and  every  one  considered  that 
they  were  entirely  capable  of 
operating  a  competitive  business 
though  they  had  given  no  time 
to  its  study  nor  to  the  elements 
which  go  to  make  a  successful 
and  profitable  business. 

In  spite  of  this  opposition,  the 
business  under  Mr.  Sperry  pros- 
pered and  grew,  and  the  next 
forward  step  may  be  said  to  have 
been  taken  when  a  contract  was 
signed  with  O'Gorman's  Depart- 
ment Store  in  Providence,  Rhode 
Island.  Such  a  fine  organization 
was  obtained  that  results  were 
immediate,  and  the  general  atten- 
tion of  merchandising  retailers  was 
attracted  to  the  "S.&H."  Company 
for  perhaps  the  first  time.  The 
following  year  Houghton  &  Dutton 
of  Boston  joined  the  "S.&H." 


13 


OUR    SI  L  VK  It     ANNIVKRSA  IIY 


family,  and  again  success  attended 
his  efforts.  Other  cities  and  towns 
were  being  opened  and  "S.&H." 
Branches  were  being  established 
and  operated  as  trading  stamp 
companies  under  the  name  of  the 
local  city  or  town.  In  the  mean- 
time a  small  office  was  opened  at 
320  Broadway,  New  York  City,  to 
facilitate  the  purchase  of  merchan- 
dise and  as  a  home  office  from 
which  to  direct  the  rapidly  increas- 
ing number  of  branches  throughout 
the  country.  The  growth  of  the 
business  could  be  seen  in  the  growth 
of  the  Home  Office;  the  one  small 
office  became  two  offices,  then  three 
offices,  until  within  a  few  years  an 
entire  floor  was  occupied  and  later 
a  considerable  portion  of  a  second 
floor. 

About  this  time,  Mr.  Sperry 
thoroughly  appreciated  the  favor- 
able attention  of  the  merchants 
of  the  country  as  a  result  of  the 
O'Gorman  and  Houghton  &  Dut- 
ton  contracts.  With  the  good 
judgment  and  clear  vision  which 
were  so  much  a  part  of  him,  he 
sought  a  contract  with  a  firm  of 
national  importance  for  the  pur- 
pose of  more  clearly  demonstrating 
to  the  merchants  throughout  the 
country  the  real  value  and  stability 
of  the  business  he  was  engaged  in. 
The  result  was  a  contract  with  the 
Siegel-Cooper  Company  of  New 
York  City,  a  firm  of  high  standing 
and  national  reputation.  As  Mr. 
Sperry  anticipated,  the  association 
with  Siegel-Cooper  Company  gave 
him  an  open  sesame  in  practically 
every  city  in  the  United  States, 
and  the  business  grew  so  rapidly 
that  a  large  force  of  men  was  re- 
quired for  no  other  purpose  than 
to  open  branches  and  establish 
the  Company's  business  in  the 
cities  of  practically  every  state  in 
the  Union.  The  adoption  of  the 


little  green  stamp  by  the  Atlantic 
&  Pacific  Tea  Company  followed 
very  shortly  after-ward.  As  the 
result  of  an  experiment  in  one  of 
their  stores  in  the  city  of  Buffalo, 
N.  Y.,  it  was  adopted  for  all  of 
their  stores,  and,  as  they  had  a 
large  number  of  stores  in  a  great 
many  cities  and  towns,  this  like- 
wise added  to  the  constantly  grow- 
ing number  of  branches.  The  de- 
velopment of  the  business  in  the 
west  was  then  taken  up  with  the 
result  that  Rothschild  &  Company 
of  Chicago  soon  adopted  the 
"S.&H."  Green  Stamp  system; 
and  crossing  the  continent,  many 
of  the  larger  merchants  in  various 
cities  also  adopted  the  same,  in- 
cluding the  Boston  Store  of  Mil- 
waukee, the  Emporium  of  St.  Paul, 
Olds,  Wortman  &  King  of  Port- 
land, Oregon,  the  Palace  Depart- 
ment Store  of  Spokane,  Washing- 
ton, the  Fifth  Street  Store,  Los 
Angeles,  California. 

In  this  connection,  let  it  be  said 
that  the  opening  of  towns  and 
cities  has  gone  on  consistently 
since  1896,  and  that  the  number  of 
employes  on  the  payroll  at  one 
time  has  approximated  2,500. 
This  growth  to  me  represents  the 
embodiment  of  the  ideals  expressed 
by  our  own  American  philosopher 
—Emerson.  It  is  impossible  for 
me  to  say  which  one  of  his  essays 
I  like  the  best;  I  think  his  essays 
on  "Beauty"  and  "Power"  have 
perhaps  influenced  me  most  in 
connection  with  my  interest  in  this 
business.  They  both  have  such 
boundless  value  and  are  so  filled 
with  such  fine  sequences.  And  it 
is  my  pleasure  today  to  hand  each 
one  of  you  a  copy  of  this  little  book, 
with  the  sincere  wish  that  you 
may  find  as  much  helpful  instruc- 
tion in  it  as  I  have  always  been  able 
to  extract. 


14 


O  (I  R    S  1  L  V  E  R    A  N  N  J  V  E  R  S  A  R  V 


In  1904,  Mr.  William  M.  Sperry 
acquired  the  stock  of  the  Company 
held  by  Mr.  Shelley  B.  Hutchin- 
son,  and  from  that  time  until  the 
death  of  Mr.  Thomas  A.  Sperry 
the  two  brothers  were  associated 
in  operating  the  Company's  busi- 
ness. 

The  business  was  not  without  its 
vicissitudes.  Providence,  after 
making  a  wonderful  start,  was 
interrupted  by  adverse  legislation. 
A  favorable  court  decision  followed, 
however,  and  after  two  years 
Providence  again  went  ahead  with 
its  old  time  enthusiasm.  Progress 
in  Boston  and  practically  every 
city  in  Massachusetts  was  check- 
ed by  the  same  means.  A  long 
legal  controversy  ensued,  but  a 
complete  victory  ultimately 
perched  on  our  banners.  The  State 
of  New  York  followed  suit,  but 
again  the  victory  was  ours.  In 
fact,  the  struggle  seemed  never 
ending,  one  state  after  another 
attempting  to  destroy  Mr.  Sperry  \s 
efforts  by  class  legislation,  all  of 
which  has  resulted  in  the  loss  of 
only  one  state;  and  the  latest 
decision  of  the  Supreme  Court  of 
Utah  reads  that  the  adverse  de- 
cision in  Kansas  was  on  insufficient 
grounds. 

Thus  did  Mr.  Sperry  labor  for 
seventeen  years  in  the  extending 
of  his  business  ideas  and  in  fighting 
for  the  right  to  do  business  accord- 
ing to  his  ideas  and  his  ideals. 
He  had  surrounded  himself  with  a 
highly-trained  force  of  men,  and 
in  his  later  years  was  enabled  to 
give  considerable  of  his  time  to 
travel,  public  matters,  the  estab- 
lishment of  his  home,  education 
of  his  children,  and,  to  some  ex- 
tent, he  was  privileged  to  enjoy 
the  fruits  of  his  endeavors.  His 
relaxation  from  business  cares, 
however,  was  never  great,  for  he 


always  kept  in  close  touch  with  all 
departments  of  his  business  and 
with  his  business  associates. 

Mr.  Sperry  died  on  September 
2,  1913,  having  demonstrated  the 
practicability  of  the  ideas  con- 
ceived by  him  as  long  ago  as  1891. 
He  left  a  firmly  established  business 
upon  which  his  personality  and 
individuality  are  forever  impressed. 
He  fought  a  good  fight  and  de- 
serves the  accolade  if  any  man  ever 
did.  At  Mr.  Sperry 's  death,  which 
happened  suddenly  and  most  un- 
expectedly, I  found  myself,  in  the 
watches  of  the  night,  left  with  a 
charge  and  upon  me  fell  the 
burden  of  caring  for  the  business 
which  he  had  founded.  The  bur- 
den has  never  seemed  too  heavy, 
for  it  has  been  lightened  by  willing 
hearts  and  helpful  hands.  The 
Great  Reaper  has  gathered  some 
of  our  splendid  men,  but  I  do 
believe  that  these  crushing  ex- 
periences have  drawn  us  all  more 
closely  together  and  made  firmer 
that  crimson  cord  of  friendship 
which  knows  no  separation. 

The  day  that  Mr.  Sperry  died, 
I  asked  Mr.  William  M.  Sperry 
to  become  the  president  of  our 
Company,  and  he  retained  that 
office  until  January,  1915,  when  he 
was  succeeded  by  Mr.  George  B. 
Caldwell,  an  old-time  friend  of 
Mr.  Thos.  Sperry  and  one  who  had 
been  closely  associated  with  him 
for  many  years  and  who  well  knew 
his  aims  and  his  ambition,  and  who 
was,  to  a  considerable  extent, 
familiar  with  the  business  itself, 

I  have  never  taken  any  active 
position  publicly  in  the  affairs  of 
the  Company,  but  my  interest  has 
never  known  abatement  since  the 
days  when  Mr.  Sperry  first  con- 
ceived his  ideas  about  the  premium 
business  and  proceeded  to  set 
them  in  motion.  My  life  seems 


Main  Entrance  and  Reception  Hall. 


fairly  entwined  with  The  Sperry  & 
Hutchinson  Company.  The  idea 
must  have  been  communicated 
to  me  in  the  morning  of  my  life, 
and  I  have  observed  the  growth 
and  the  development  of  this  idea 
into  a  stalwart  business  tree  whose 
branches  cover  not  only  our  own 
United  States,  but  have  spread 
over  the  seas  and  are  doing  so 
much  in  the  promotion  of  economy 
and  domestic  welfare.  The  cares 
in  connection  with  this  business, 
which  fell  upon  my  shoulders  at 
Mr.  Sperry's  death,  have  been 
lifted  by  Mr.  Caldwell  and  his  able 
associates,  and  I  feel  that  the 
future  of  the  Company  is  in  safe 
hands  and  that  its  prospects  are 
brighter  than  ever  before.  I  seem 
to  see  this  in  the  Spirit  of  Co- 
operation which  has  been  fostered 
between  the  Company  and  the 
merchants,  its  clients,  between  the 
Company  and  the  public  which  it 
serves;  I  seem  to  see  it  in  the  close 


co-ordination  and  the  good  fellow- 
ship which  exists  in  all  depart- 
ments of  the  business;  and  in  the 
constantly  enhancing  reputation 
which  the  "S.&H."  Company  en- 
joys in  the  minds  of  merchants, 
public  men,  and  associations  of 
many  kinds.  I  think  I  find  my- 
self today  looking  beyond  the  snow 
line,  and  the  beautiful  picture, 
which  symbolizes  the  Spirit  of  Co- 
operation, and  which  we  are 
gathered  here  today  to  dedicate, 
does,  in  my  estimation,  represent 
the  fulfillment  of  Mr.  Thomas  A. 
Sperry's  ambition,  and  I  believe 
that  his  life  work  will  be  judged  in 
a  Court  where  there  is  no  Statute 
of  Limitations. 

Mr.  Caldwell  thanked  Mrs. 
Goodrich  for  her  talk  and  then  in  a 
happy  little  speech  introduced  Mr. 
Thomas  A.  Sperry's  youngest 
daughter,  Miss  Marjorie,  who  read 
the  following  little  story  of  "The 
Little  Green  Stamp"  which  had 


1C 


President's  Office. 


been  submitted  by  Jane  J.  Martin, 
our  Advertising  Manager,  although 
not  for  this  occasion. 

Miss  MARJORY  SPERRY:  "There 
are  many  times  when  we  all  may, 
with  modesty,  speak  of  our  useful- 
ness and  accomplishments.  I 
think  that  time  has  come  with  me— 
the  time  to  tell  you  the  story  of 
what  my  'green-ness'  represents  to 
you;  to  your  employers;  and  to 
your  customers. 

Though  I  am  small  and  green, 
yet  I  have  sticking  qualities,  and 
will  hold  fast  when  placed  in  the 
little  album  provided  for  me.  I 
am  beloved  by  collectors,  not  for 
my  beauty  or  collective  worth, 
but  for  my  'saving'  value  in  re- 
deemability. 

Merchants  in  various  lines  of 
business  throughout  the  country 
have  become  fond  of  me  because 
I  build  up  friendship  with  their 
customers,  create  more  business 
and  incidentally  increase  profits. 


And  you  know,  every  merchant 
likes  his  business  to  grow.  More 
than  this,  I  am  the  little  wedge 
that  helps  him  do  business  on  a 
cash  basis,  meaning  less  risk  and 
more  turnover  for  him.  Do  you 
wonder  he  approves  of  me? 

Sales  people  (even  those  who 
once  frowned  on  me  as  a  nuisance) 
have  become  my  friends.  Through 
me,  they  have  come  to  know  their 
customers.  I  have  been  the  lever 
that  influenced  these  customers 
to  come  back  to  them  for  personal 
service.  Thus  have  I  built  up  the 
amounts  on  the  books  of  individual 
sales  people,  and  have  made  these 
people  more  valuable  to  their  em- 
ployers. In  many  cases  I  have 
been  directly  responsible  for  in- 
creased salaries  to  sales  people, 
who,  recognizing  my  value,  have 
worked  me  hard  and  helped  not 
only  their  concerns  and  their  cus- 
tomers, but  themselves. 

And    Customers — how   they   de- 


17 


OUR    SILVER    ANNIVERSARY 


pend  on  me.  Many  a  home  have 
I  helped  to  furnish  for  them,  when 
they  had  not  the  money  with 
which  to  purchase  needfuls.  Many 
an  empty  corner  have  I  filled  with 
things  of  beauty  and  practical 
value.  Many  a  heart  have  I 
gladdened  with  some  long  wanted 
possession,  that  they  could  not 
have  acquired  without  my  aid. 
Yes,  I  can  truthfully  say  I  have 
brought  joy  and  happiness  to 
many. 

Also,  I  help  customers  pay  cash 
and  eliminate  the  awful  bugbear 
of  accumulated  bills.  With  me 
at  hand  to  guide  them,  they  can 
hold  up  their  heads  in  pride  and 
say  *I  owe  nothing.'  Thrift  is 
my  middle  name. 

I  am  the  most  active  little 
square  of  green  paper  you  ever  saw. 
I  represent  the  purchasing  power 
of  ten  cents. 

I  am  your  friend.  When  making 
sales,  use  me  as  much  and  as  often 
as  you  like.  I  will  not  fail  you." 

She  was  followed  by  the  Presi- 
dent, who  in  the  following  words 
gave  us  the  aims,  purposes  and 
principles  of  our  business  through- 
out its  existence. 

PRESIDENT  GEORGE  B.  CALD- 
WELL:  Twenty-five  years  ago  the 
Founder  of  this  business  organized 
the  partnership  of  Sperry  &  Hutch- 
inson,  which  later  (in  1900)  was 
incorporated  as  The  Sperry  & 
Hutchinson  Company. 

Prior  to  that  time  Mr.  Sperry 
had  been  a  salesman  and  had 
learned  something  of  the  problem 
of  competition  in  retail  merchan- 
dising and  had  also  learned  that 
there  is  no  such  thing  as  the 
ownership  of  cash  trade.  His  ex- 
perience had  taught  him  that 
credit  was  expensive,  required  a 
large  capital,  incurred  the  possi- 
bility of  some  loss,  and  is  the 


antithesis  of  thrift  and  good  busi- 
ness. He  recognized  that  the  word 
"BUSINESS"  is  the  one  word 
emblazoned  on  the  mind  of  every 
adult  American,  including  the  man 
who  earns  and  the  woman  who 
saves — that  the  retail  merchant 
was  at  times  helpless  and  never 
independent,  though  a  necessary 
and  the  largest  agency  in  the 
problem  of  distribution.  He  stud- 
ied this  situation  and  he  observed 
that  the  majority  of  people  were 
comparatively  poor,  and  that  they, 
better  than  any  one  else,  knew  the 
value  of  small  savings.  Because 
he  was  a  keen  observer,  and  withal 
very  human,  he  knew  the  natural 
inclination  of  the  consumer,  that, 
all  things  being  equal,  the  consumer 
buys  where  quality  and  price  are 
most  attractive.  Knowing  these 
fundamental  business  problems  and 
human  characteristics,  he  thought 
out  and  applied  a  simple  system  of 
automatic  saving,  on  what  one 
spends,  that  was  co-operative  as 
between  the  retail  merchant  and 
his  customer.  He  developed  and 
used  the  Stamp  as  the  token  of 
value.  He  wisely  determined  to 
use  something  of  this  sort  because 
one  Stamp  represents  a  fraction  of 
one  cent  and  must  of  necessity  be 
both  cheap  and  convenient. 

Because  this  Stamp  was  used 
exclusively  by  retail  merchants, 
it  quickly  became  known  as  the 
"Trading  Stamp."  To  make  it 
of  value  to  the  merchant,  he  put 
three  important  limitations  upon 
its  use — one,  that  it  should  not  be 
sold  and  made  available  for  every 
merchant;  otherwise  it  would  not 
be  of  the  greatest  value  to  the 
merchant  using  it;  another  l|ial  it. 
should  bo  given  out  for  cash  trade 
in  the  form  of  a  discount;  the  ob- 
ject here  was  to  reduce  credit  and 
promote  thrift;  and  the  third  li mi- 


OUR     SILVER    ANNIVERSARY 


tation  was  that  it  should  be  re- 
deemed in  lots  of  1,000  when 
properly  assembled  in  a  book 
which  he  furnished  each  customer, 
so  that  in  the  course  of  their  trading 
in  different  places  where  Stamps 
were  given,  these  Stamps  could  be 
accumulated  and  placed  in  this 
book  until  filled,  when  it  was  then 
ready  for  redemption. 

Having  arranged  this  matter  for 
the  benefit  of  the  merchant  and 
created  the  Stamp,  stamp  book, 
and  fixed  the  denomination  in 
which  it  should  be  redeemed,  it  still 
remained  for  him  to  prepare  for 
the  redemption  of  the  same;  hence 
he  began  to  establish  not  only  one 
but  many  places  in  the  various  im- 
portant cities  of  the  United  States 
in  which  he  was  doing  business, 
where  the  people  could  go  with 
these  filled  stamp  books  and  get 
them  redeemed.  It  is  here  that  he 
recognized  a  very  important  fea- 
ture of  the  "S.&H."  Company  and 
the  merchant  alike,  and  that  was 
the  element  of  service.  In  those 
days,  as  to-day,  merchants  were 
offering  many  kinds  of  service,  from 
the  skilled  and  gracious  clerk  and 
free  delivery,  to  the  nursery,  rest- 
room,  concert  and  the  return  of 
goods  after  being  purchased  and 
paid  for.  The  merchant  found 
our  system  of  service  built  trade 
and  brought  in  the  cash  and  was 
by  far  the  cheapest  service  he  could 
buy;  and  he  also  found  that  it  was 
appreciated  by  his  customers,  built 
up  good- will  and  was  actually  the 
"tie  that  binds"  as  between  the 
merchant  and  the  community  he 
seeks  to  serve.  It  did  this  twenty- 
five  years  ago — it,  does  it  to-day. 

In  the  selling  of  this  Co-operative 
Discount  Plan,  Mr.  S perry  built  up 
an  organization  of  salesmen  of  the 
highest  type;  while  in  the  operation 
of  these  stores  he  likewise  built  an 


organization  of  highly  specialized 
people  to  insure  the  success  of  the 
service  he  had  sold.  In  twenty- 
five  years,  the  "S.&H."  business 
has  grown  and  spread  from  Bridge- 
port, Connecticut,  to  nearly  every 
state,  city  and  town  in  the  United 
States,  and  is  known  also  to  nearly 
every  live,  progressive  merchant 
and  by  every  frugal  housewife. 
We  have  several  instances  of  small 
homes  having  been  actually  fur- 
nished from  the  stamps  obtained 
in  trade  and  redeemed  through  our 
stores.  Very  naturally,  and  justly, 
the  public  has  not  only  recognized 
this  service  more  and  more  each 
year,  but  the  growth  of  this  busi- 
ness has  impelled  the  growth  of 
other  stamp  companies  and  the 
use  of  the  coupon  by  manufac- 
turers. The  coupon  and  other 
stamps  differ  in  their  application, 
and  sometimes  in  their  denomina- 
tion and  results,  but  one  principle 
is  the  same — co-operation  of  mer- 
chant and  consumer,  the  building 
up  of  volume  and  good-will  on  a 
cash  basis,  a  service  that  makes 
possible  the  healthy  expansion  of 
business  wherever  it  is  practised, 
as  thousands  of  merchants  using 
this  "silent  salesman"  to-day  can 
testify.  Due  to  the  functioning  of 
immutable,  economic  lawTs  that 
dominate  all  business,  and  the  ac- 
ceptance of  the  idea  that  competi- 
tion is  the  life  of  trade  and  is  demo- 
cratic rather  than  imperialistic,  the 
Trading  Stamp  of  twenty-five  years 
ago  has  gone  through  many  vicissi- 
tudes and  has  stood  the  test  of  time 
as  an  economic  factor  in  the  great 
problem  of  distribution.  Our  busi- 
ness has  grown  from  practically 
nothing  in  1890,  when  it  started, 
to  a  volume  of  several  million  dol- 
lars annually,  and  the  "S.&H." 
Green  Trading  Stamp  has  held  the 


1!) 


Office  of  Mrs.  Kate  Sperry  Goodrich. 


position  of  first,  largest  and  best 
during  all  this  period. 

In  addition  to  this,  Mr.  Sperry 's 
original  idea  has  never  been  im- 
proved upon  because  it  was  funda- 
mentally sound.  By  establishing 
redemption  stations  at  different 
points  in  the  United  States  where  a 
book  of  stamps  obtained  by  trading 
in  New  York  can  be  redeemed  in 
Chicago  or  San  Francisco,  it  has 
become  national  in  its  scope,  and 
in  this  the  "S.&H."  Discount 
Service  has  no  competitor.  Mr. 
Sperry  also  left  another  valuable 
asset,  and  that  was  his  organization 
of  trained  men  and  women.  There 
is  no  selling  organization  that  I 
know  that  is  more  virile  or  faces 
the  open  field  of  competition  with 
greater  zest  and  desire  and  accom- 
plishes greater  results.  It  has  car- 
ried the  "S.&H."  banner  from 
coast  to  coast  and  from  north  to 
south.  It  has  even  gone  so  far  as 
to  reach  several  foreign  countries, 


in  some  of  which  it  has  played  as 
important  a  part  as  in  America. 
To-day  this  Company  points  with 
much  pride  to  the  fact  that  it  has 
many  thousands  of  merchants, 
some  of  whom  have  been  with  the 
Company  ten,  fifteen  and  twenty 
years,  and  points  with  a  greater 
satisfaction  and  pride  to  the  fact 
that  many  of  them  who  started 
with  a  gross  volume  of  two  hundred 
to  two  hundred  and  fifty  thousand 
dollars  per  year  are  now  successful 
merchants  doing  a  business  of  sev- 
eral million  dollars  per  year.  That 
this  may  not  have  been  all  due  to 
the  use  of  the  Trading  Stamp  is  not 
denied  or  even  contended,  but  we 
have  absolute  knowledge  of  the  vir- 
tue of  the  Trading  Stamp  in  doing 
its  part  and  many  merchants  ready 
to  vouch  that  it  has  done  more  than 
they  expected. 

During  this  twenty-five  years 
there  have  been  many  imitators 
some  impostors,  some  failures,  and 


uU  1 


B 


Office  of  Treasurer  and  Vice-President. 


much  discussion.  Largely  because 
it  has  been  restricted  in  its  use  and 
thus  made  an  effective,  competitive 
feature  of  retail  trade,  it  has  drawn 
the  fire  of  the  competitive  mer- 
chant, especially  the  one  who  is  so 
selfish  that  he  will  not  or  cannot 
understand  the  benefits  of  co-op- 
erative profit-sharing.  These  mer- 
chants have  frequently  organized 
to  drive  the  discount  idea  out  of 
retail  trade.  They  themselves  ask 
and  receive  discounts  on  what  they 
buy,  but  deny  this  privilege  to  those 
who  buy  for  them.  The  incon- 
sistency of  their  position  and  their 
selfishness  they  do  not  admit,  but 
revel  in  calling  a  trading  stamp,  es- 
pecially the  "S.&H."  Green  Trad- 
ing Stamp,  because  it  is  the  largest 
and  strongest,  a  "trust"  and  the 
stamp  service  the  "business  of  a 
parasite."  For  many  years,  Mr. 
Sperry  paid  little  or  no  attention  to 
these  attacks,  and  not  until  they 
became  so  virulent  in  form  through 


merchants'  associations  and  legis- 
lative enactment  did  he  decide  to 
meet  them ;  and  when  he  did  he  de- 
fended his  business  as  he  did  every- 
thing— with  his  whole  heart  and 
whole  soul  and  whole  strength,  until 
nearly  every  Supreme  Court  in 
nearly  every  state  in  which  we  do 
business  has  said  the  "S.&H."  serv- 
ice is  as  legitimate  as  any  other 
form  of  service,  any  other  form  of 
advertising,  and  is  a  matter  be- 
tween the  merchant  and  his  cus- 
tomer. It  is  neither  a  trust  nor  a 
parasite,  and  as  a  business  it  is  en- 
titled to  all  the  protection  and  re- 
spect that  the  Fourteenth  Amend- 
ment of  the  Constitution  of  the 
United  States  gives  to  any  business. 
Do  you  realize,  and  does  any  one 
realize,  that  we  have  lived  the 
twenty-five  years  and  have  never 
violated  our  contracts  with  the 
holder  of  a  book  of  Green  Stamps? 
In  fact,  we  have  gone  so  far  in  many 
instances  as  to  redeem  partially 


OUR    SILVER    ANNIVERSARY 


filled  books,  to  secure  extra  mer- 
chandise and  sometimes  pay  cash, 
so  that  of  all  the  stamps  issued  each 
year,  we  are  now  redeeming  about 
95%.  Do  you  realize  (because  few 
people  do)  that  covering  the  period 
of  our  existence  about  $100,000,000 
in  retail  value  for  standard  mer- 
chandise has  been  distributed  as 
real  profit-sharing  as  a  discount  to 
those  who  have  given  their  cash 
trade  of  approximately  four  billion 
dollars  to  the  merchants  using  the 
"S.&H."  service?  This  will  give 
you  and  the  merchants  using 
"S.&H."  service  some  conception 
of  what  the  business  has  been  and 
is  and  will  continue  to  produce  for 
those  using  it. 

^  The  Company  possesses  to-day 
$1,000,000  capital  and  has  about 
$3,800,000  of  total  assets  and  is  at 
the  head  as  the  leader  in  the  devel- 
opment and  use  of  premium  service 
in  merchandising.  During  the  last 
twenty-five  years  the  stamp,  which 
was  put  out  originally  for  about 
$5.00  a  thousand  to  the  merchant, 
has,  like  all  other  items  of  cost  in 
merchandising,  been  reduced  and 
has  for  the  past  ten  years  followed 
closely  a  standard  of  price  at  which 
v  it  is  now  sold  to  the  merchant. 
During  all  of  its  life  it  has  increased 
in  its  efficiency,  as  illustrated  by  the 
large  percentage  of  redemptions. 
To-day  this  high  efficiency  excels 
all  other  kinds  of  service  in  the  re- 
tail trade.  Another  important 
thing — it  has  never  been  proven, 
though  it  has  been  tried,  that  it 
added  anything  to  the  cost  of  the 
article  to  the  consumer,  nor  will  it 
ever  do  so  as  long  as  trade  is  con- 
ducted on  a  competitive  basis.  Our 
Y  service  may  and  docs  figure  as  a 
part  of  the  cost  of  doing  business, 
all  of  which  expense  is  finally  paid 
J  by  the  consumer,  but  it  pays  its 
way  as  it  goes  to  an  extent  that  no 


other  service  does.  The  merchant 
who  enjoys  this  service  can  count 
on  operating  with  less  invested  cap- 
ital, prompt  payment  of  accounts, 
smaller  losses  from  doubtful  ac- 
counts, and  a  satisfactory  increase 
in  the  volume  of  his  sales;  and  it 
frequently  takes  the  place  of  other 
forms  of  service  less  desirable  that 
are  equally  or  more  expensive,  and 
to  that  extent  is  a  further  benefit 
to  the  merchant  and  consumer. 

For  all  of  this,  Mr.  Thomas  A. 
Sperry  lived  and  died.  He  lived 
long  enough,  however,  to  be  able 
to  walk  upon  the  stage  of  life  with 
the  consciousness  of  the  conqueror, 
and  to  see  co-operation  and  thrift 
practised  by  thousands  of  mer- 
chants and  millions  of  housewives 
in  a  practical  way  throughout  the 
United  States,  and  all  of  this  done 
through  the  agency  of  his  little 
Green  Stamp.  Eight  years  ago  lie 
was  taken  from  us,  yet  lie  laid  the 
foundation  for  successful  merchan- 
dising through  the  Spirit  of  Co- 
operation— that  one  word  that  ex- 
presses reciprocity  in  trade,  that 
one  word  that  means  so  much  in 
disposing  of  the  troubles  of  a  cha- 
otic world.  Listen  to  what  Arnold 
Abbott  says  about  Co-operation: 

"Nothing  happens  without  CO- 
OPERATION. That  the  simplest 
thing  may  happen  the  whole  of 
NATURE  CO-OPERATES,  as  in 
the  forming  of  dewdrops,  for  in- 
stance. 

"CO-OPERATION  has  been  the 
spirit,  the  backbone,  the  prime  es- 
sential of  every  SUCCESS  whether 
of  business  or  science,  transporta- 
tion or  education,  mechanics  or 
politics,  government  or  diplomacy. 

"Every  employer  judges  his  em- 
ployes by  their  ABILITY  to  CO- 
OPERATE.     Subordinates  pro- 
gress, other  things  being  equal,  a<- 
cording  to  their  CAPACITY  and 


'22 


OUR    SILVER    ANNIVERSARY 


WILLINGNESS  to  CO-OPER- 
ATE. Executives  retain  their  po- 
sitions only  if  they  co-operate  suc- 
cessfully with  other  executives  and 
maintain  CO-OPERATION  among 
their  workers. 

"Eliminate  co-operation  and  we 
would  have  no  railroads,  no  steam- 
ship lines,  no  department  stores, 
no  great  manufacturing  establish- 
ments, no  music,  no  books,  no  gov- 
ernment. CHAOS  would  exist. 

"Since,  therefore,  CO-OPERA- 
TION is  ESSENTIAL,  common 
sense  dictates  that  it  should  be 
HEARTY  and  COMPLETE. 

"Co-operation  in  business  life 
means  more  than  merely  obeying 
orders.  It  means  working  with 
one's  fellow  employes  WHOLE- 
HEARTEDLY. It  means  avoid- 
ing the  friction  of  conspiracy, 
grouchy  deceit,  time-serving  sel- 
fishness, indolence  and  inattention. 
It  means  TEAM  WORK.  The 
pennant  winners  of  commerce  are 
those  who  have  best  solved  the 
problems  of  CO-OPERATION." 

Co-operation,  insofar  as  the  little 
Green  Stamp  could  do  it,  has  grown 
like  the  magnificent  palaces  in  the 
Arabian  Nights,  and  has  brought 
success  to  thousands  of  merchants 
and  consolation  and  comfort  to  mil- 
lions of  American  homes.  Many  of 
you  here  to-day  knew  Mr.  Thomas 
A.  Sperry.  It  is  an  added  tribute 
to  his  memory  and  his  many  good 
qualities  that  the  leading  people  in 
this  organization,  perhaps  75%  of 
them,  were  given  their  start  and 
received  their  specialized  training 
under  him.  I  also  knew  Mr. 
Thomas  A.  Sperry  as  a  young  man 

unmarried.  Afterwards  I  heard 
him  say  that,  except  liis  wife,  I  had 
picked  one  of  the  besl.  that  grew  in 
Michigan.  I  knew  him  as  a  busi- 
ness man  arid  as  a  friend.  As  I  re- 
call my  acquaintance  with  him  and 


his  business  career,  I  think  he  not 
only  set  the  example,  but  taught  us 
several  important  things: 

1st — To  anticipate  requirements; 

2d — To  recognize  no  impedi- 
ments ; 

3d — To  develop  resources; 

4th — To  master  circumstances; 

5th — To  act  from  reason  rather 
than  rule; 

6th — To  be  satisfied  with  nothing 
short  of  perfection. 

He  succeeded  because  he  was  an 
organizer,  a  builder,  and  recognized 
the  value  of  co-operation.  Review^ 
for  a  minute  his  business  organiza- 
tion: 

1st — A  centralized  authority 
vested  in  him  as  President  and 
Managing  Officer; 

2d — He  was  always  a  trustee;  a 
trustee  of  the  capital  invested  by 
the  stockholders  in  this  business; 
a  trustee  of  the  confidence  of  the 
merchants  to  whom  he  sold  service 
and  taught  co-operation;  a  trustee 
of  the  men  and  women  employed 
by  this  Company,  whose  daily 
bread  and  whose  future  was  possi- 
ble through  his  leadership. 

We  cannot  erect  a  greater  tribute 
to  his  memory  than  he  himself 
erected.  It  remains  for  us  to 
shoulder  his  burden  and  perpetuate 
and  honestly  administer  the  trust 
he  has  left  behind.  I  frequently 
ask  myself,  are  we  equal  to  the 
task?  Then  I  know  we  have  done 
honestly  what  has  been  done,  and 
I  try  to  believe  it  would  have  his 
approval  if  he  were  here.  The 
great  business  world  should  also  be 
grateful  for  what  he  did,  because, 
at  a  time  like  this,  when  the  nerves 
of  the  pocketbook  are  everywhere 
most  sensitive,  the  ideas  he  con- 
ceived and  promulgated  operate  in 
the  very  highest  degree  to  stimu- 
late arid  maintain  the  maximum  of 
co-operation,  We  possess  an  in- 


Office  of  Vice-President  in  Charge  of  Promotion  and  Operation. 


heritance  in  the  Trading  Stamp 
wherein  the  doctrine  of  chance  does 
not  exist,  and  as  the  day  of  small 
things  has  never  passed  and  never 
will,  we,  of  the  "S.&H."  family, 
take  pride  in  being  a  part  of  the 
thing  of  which  life  is  made. 

Volume  of  sales  and  good-will  are 
just  as  great  a  problem  to-day  as 
they  ever  were  and  are  just  as  much 
a  fundamental  of  the  success  of  any 
business.  The  individual  mer- 
chant, or  even  the  individual  him- 
self, may  feel  that  he  or  she  is  a 
trading  stamp — a  small  part  of  any 
business — but  business  and  individ- 
uals were  never  larger  than  to-day, 
and  the  trading  stamp  idea  was 
never  more  valuable  than  it  is  at 
this  very  time,  and  co-operation 
was  never  more  the  problem  of  the 
hour. 

As  symbolized  by  this  excellent 
oil  painting  (unveiled  by  Miss  Mar- 
jorie  Sperry),  representing  the 
strength  of  the  united  trinity — the 
"S.&H."  Green  Stamp,  the  mer- 


chant, and  the  consumer,  carrying- 
forward  in  a  larger  way  his  wish 
and  your  loyalty  and  labor  and 
mine,  we  lead  to  the  one  funda- 
mental thought,  basic  as  to  win- 
ning success  in  all  endeavors — 
CO-OPERATION. 

May  I  ask  you  all  to  rise  while  I 
offer  this  brief  eulogy  to  our  own 
as  well  as  one  of  the  world's  bene- 
factors— to  Mr.  Thomas  A.  Sperry, 
the  Founder  of  the  "S.&H."  Green 
Trading  Stamp,  the  man  of  zest 
and  genius,  who  taught  the  world 
not  only  the  value  of  small  savings, 
but  how  to  do  it  automatically;  to 
Mr.  Thomas  A.  Sperry,  the  pro- 
moter and  salesman,  who  discov- 
ered a  practical  way  of  increasing 
volume  and  building  good-will  in 
the  retail  trade;  to  Mr.  Thomas  A. 
Sperry,  the  servant  and  benefactor 
of  the  rich  and  poor  alike,  who  re- 
alized that  all  thrift  is  helpful,  holy 
and  begets  happiness — to  him  I 
dedicate  this  wonderful  piece  of  art, 
on  this,  the  25th  anniversary,  of 


Legal  Department. 


the  business  he  founded  and  estab- 
lished. 

The  artist,  Raymond  Perry,  be- 
ing present,  was  then  introduced  by 
Mr.  Caldwell. 

MR.  PERRY  :  I  very  deeply  appre- 
ciate the  distinction  that  you  con- 
fer upon  me  in  inviting  me  to  the 
dedication  of  your  picture.  As  a 
usual  thing,  a  great  business  or- 
ganization does  not  count  art  and 
the  artist  as  elements  necessary  to 
its  success;  but  when  a  business 
reaches  unusual  proportions  it  is 
usually  found  that  its  sponsors  are 
possessed  of  a  certain  vision  and 
imagination  that  lifts  them  above 
the  plane  of  mere  traders  and  en- 
larges their  scope  through  an  ap- 
peal to  the  more  poetic  side  of 
humanity  with  which  they  deal. 

I  cannot  define  art,  and  no  one 
can,  but  we  know  that  the  achieve- 
ments of  art  are  closely  bound  up 
with  the  best  that  mankind  has 
attained. 


In  the  great  war  there  was  no 
sorrow  so  great,  aside  from  that  oc- 
casioned by  the  loss  of  human  life, 
as  that  caused  by  the  loss  of  irre- 
placeable art.  Art  is  one  of  the 
things  men  fight  for  and  long  after 
the  race  of  Egyptians,  Grecians  and 
Romans,  as  they  were  once  known, 
have  passed  away,  their  art  remains 
almost  the  sole  witness  and  story- 
teller of  their  greatness. 

To  me  there  are  only  two  really 
essential  habits  that  persist  in  man, 
and  they  are,  art  and  business — 
business  and  art — one  the  comple- 
ment of  the  other.  From  before 
the  earliest  recorded  history  up  to 
the  present  moment  the  man  who  is 
making  a  living  for  his  wife  and 
family  is  the  unit  upon  which  all 
business,  great  and  little,  is  based; 
and  when  a  man  finds  that  he  has 
satisfied  the  more  material  needs 
of  existence,  such  as  food  and  shel- 
ter, he  reaches  out  for  other  satis- 
faction of  a  less  palpable  sort,  but 


O  ll  R    SILVER    ANNIVERSARY 


just,  as  necessary,  in  the  nature  of 
menial,  spiritual,  or  religious  exer- 
cises, the  enjoyment  of  beauty, 
decoration  of  his  clothing,  habita- 
tion, and  the  utensils  with  which 
he  works.  These  things  are  all  in 
the  realm  of  art.  It  is  most  nat- 
ural then,  when  you  come  to  think 
of  it,  that  a  great  or- 
ganization like  this, 
built,  as  it  is,  upon 
millions  of  the  units 
that  I  have  noted, 
should  initiate  the 
function  which  we  now 
attend.  There  are  var- 
ious ways  in  which  art 
might  visualize  the 
meaning  of  this  organ- 
ization.  We  might 
have  approached  the 
problem  from  a  purely 
material  point  of  view 
and  made  portraits  of 
the  personnel  of  the 
organization,  of  the 
buildings,  great  and 
little,  which  house  its 
clients,  the  factories  in  many  states 
and  countries  that  furnish  the  mer- 
chandise for  premiums  that  is  part 
of  this  service. 

But  who  can  hear  the  words  of 
Mrs.  Goodrich  without  sensing 
their  epic  meaning? 

Is  there  not  something  mysteri- 
ous, magical,  in  the  growth  of  The 
Sperry  &  Hutchinson  Company? 
Is  there  not  something  that  can- 
not be  explained  along  purely  ma- 
terial lines?  It  does  seem  as  though 
the  principle  upon  which  the  busi- 
ness was  founded  were  embodied  in 
a  veritable  spirit  that  can  breathe 
into  this  machine  of  an  organiza- 
tion the  breath  of  life  and  gild  its 
successes  and  achievements  with 
more  than  a  glint  of  altruism. 

It  is  this  aspect  of  this  institution 
that  I  have  tried  to  depict  and  I 


can  best  describe  it  by  reading  the 
following: 

ARTIST'S  NOTE 

When  I  was  commissioned  to 
make  this  painting  I  began  by  con- 
templating the  basic  idea  back  of 
the  "S.&.H."  Green  Trading  Stamp 
and  I  was  helped  in 
this  by  my  own  exper- 
ience as  a  customer 
with  thatstamp  for 
many  years.  Then  I 
set  about  to  interpret 
that  idea  by  symbols. 
Like  all  great  ideas, 
it  is  a  simple  one,  con- 
taining three  elements: 
The  merchant  and  his 
customer,  present  in 
every  trade  since  time 
immemorial  and 
another  figure — the 
modern  thought  of 
co-operation  and  serv- 
ice  in  mercantile 
affairs — a  figure  illu- 
mined with  disinter- 
estedness and  with  something  of  the 
ideal,  the  spiritual  vision  vitalizing 
her  being. 

As  a  breastplate,  like  a  priest  of 
old,  she  wears  her  sign  of  familiar 
design  and  the  colors  of  her  gar- 
ment further  carry  out  the  theme 
of  the  green  trading  stamp. 

The  merchant  is  represented  as  a 
responsible,  middle-aged  man — his 
face  a  composite  portrait  of  the  best 
types  of  business  leaders. 

Since  buyers  are  mostly  women, 
The  Customer  is  represented  as  a 
woman — the  housewife  to  whom 
the  responsibility  of  wise  expendi- 
ture is  a  conscious  duty  faithfully 
performed. 

The  Merchant  and  the  Customer 
clasp  hands,  while  above  and  be- 
tween, laying  her  hands  upon 
theirs,  stands  the  Spirit  of  Co- 


26 


Oil  II    SILVER    ANNIVERSARY 


operation,  who  Juts  glorified  a  more 
barter  into  a  relationship  of  mutual 
confidence,  satisfaction  and  profit. 

She  is  manifestly  happy  to  he  this 
binding  tie  and  in  her  face  is  ex- 
pressed a  conviction  that  this 
mutuality  is  good  and  admirable; 
and  a  gratitude  that  the  aspirations 
of  humanity,  long  repressed  in  busi- 
ness affairs,  have  now  through  her 
offices,  made  possible  a  service  to 
all  which  of  old  was  but  the  dream 
of  a  few. 

The  costumes  of  the  figures  are 
classic,  obviating  any  question  of 
changing  styles  and  by  custom  in- 
dicating abstract  idea  rather  than 
the  concrete. 

In  the  background,  however,  the 
stores  and  the  homes  are  modern, 
suggesting  the  practical,  present 
application  of  the  ideas  shown 
above. 

In  the  design  of  this  picture  there 
is  a  hint  of  the  stamp  itself. 

The  arms  of  the  Merchant  and 
Customer  form  a  curved  band  sim- 
ilar to  the  band  on  the  Stamp  carry- 
ing the  words,  "Trading  Stamp." 

The  large  figure  may  be  likened 
to  the  10  in  the  back  of  the  band. 

Also  the  oval  in  the  Stamp  is  al- 
luded to  by  the  outer  contour  of 
the  two  side  figures,  the  lettering 
at  top  and  a  festoon  at  the  bottom. 

There  are  many  ways  that  we 
might  have  gone  about  to  meet  the 
problem  of  a  picture  for  this  occa- 
sion. We  might  have  approached 
the  problem  from  a  purely  material 
point  of  view  and  made  portraits  of 
the  personnel  of  the  organization, 
of  the  buildings,  great  and  little, 
which  house  its  clients,  the  fac- 
tories in  many  states  and  countries 


that  furnish  the  merchandise  for 
premiums  that  is  part  of  this  serv- 
ice; we  might  have  gone  so  far  as  to 
use  colored  photographs.  But  our 
problem  was  approached  in  a  dif- 
ferent manner.  We  have  tried  to 
work  through  symbols  and  in  a 
more  poetic  way,  an,d,  in  doing  so, 
possibly  we  shall  eliminate  the  diffi- 
culty of  expressing  impalpable 
things  through  material  means. 
But,  after  all,  our  problem  in  that 
regard  was  simple,  as  we  have  sim- 
ple elements  to  deal  with  that  will 
be  understood  by  the  persons  who 
have  but  little  time  to  look  at 
pictures. 

Mr.  Caldwell  then  asked  Mr. 
James  Ethridge,  who  was  present 
with  the  artist,  to  say  a  few  words: 

Mu.  ETHRIDGE:  Just  one  thought 
occurred  to  me  when  you  were 
speaking  about  Mr.  Sperry.  I  at- 
tended a  dinner  the  other  evening 
at  which  one  of  the  speakers  re- 
ferred to  the  "Fourth  Dimension 
Man"  and  when  you  were  speaking 
about  Mr.  Sperry,  it  immediately 
came  to  my  mind  that  he  was  a 
Fourth  Dimension  Man.  A  Fourth 
Dimension  Man  is  a  man  who  not 
only  has  integrity,  perseverance, 
enthusiasm  and  loyalty,  but,  last 
but  not  least,  has  vision.  The 
Fourth  Dimension  Man.  w^ould  be 
Lincoln,  Edison,  Ford,  and  I  be- 
lieve that  Mr.  Sperry  was  one  of 
those  men. 

Co-operation  also  to  me  means 
really  giving  more  than  you  re- 
ceive, and  I  think  from  what  I  have 
heard  this  afternoon  that  The 
Sperry  &  Hutchinson  Company 
certainly  does  that. 


EXPLANATION 


THE  articles  appearing  upon  the  following 
pages  were  written  by  President  C  aid  well, 
and  originally  appeared  in  "The  Sperry  Service 
Business  Bulletin,"  our  House  Organ  to  mer- 
chants handling  the  "Sperry  Service."  They 
have  received  much  complimentary  notice. 

We  have  been  obliged  to  decline  so  many  re- 
quests for  extra  copies  that  we  are  taking  the 
liberty  of  reproducing  same  herewith. 

True,  they  touch  more  or  less  upon  our  own 
business,  but  there  is  so  much  of  sound  common 
sense  and  good  business  judgment  in  them  that 
we  believe  every  business  can  find  something  of 
helpfulness  therein. 

JANE  J.  MARTIN, 
Advertising  Manager, 

The  Sperry  &  Hutchinson  Company. 


OUR  SILVER  ANNIVERSARY 


TWENTY-FIVE  years  ago  the 
Founder  of  this  business  or- 
ganized   the    partnership    of 
Sperry  &  Hutchinson,  which  later 
(in  1900)  was  incorporated  as  The 
Sperry  &  Hutchinson  Company. 

Prior  to  that  time  Mr.  Sperry  had 
been  a  salesman  and  had  learned 
something  of  the  problem  of  com- 
petition in  retail  merchandizing 
and  had  also  learned  that  there  is 
no  such  thing  as  the  ownership  of 
cash  trade.  His  experience  had 
taught  him  that  credit  was  expen- 
sive, required  a  large  capital,  in- 
curred the  possibility  of  some  loss, 
and  is  the  antithesis  of  thrift  and 
good  business.  He  recognized  that 
the  word  "BUSINESS"  is  the  one 
word  emblazoned  on  the  mind  of 
every  adult  American,  including 
the  man  who  earns  and  the  woman 
who  saves — that  the  retail  mer- 
chant was  at  times  helpless  and 
never  independent,  though  a  neces- 
sary and  the  largest  agency  in  the 
problem  of  distribution.  He  stud- 
ied this  situation  and  he  observed 
that  the  majority  of  people  were 
comparatively  poor,  and  that  they, 
better  than  any  one  else,  knew  the 
value  of  small  savings.  Because  he 
was  a  keen  observer,  and  withal 
very  human,  he  knew  the  natural 
inclination  of  the  consumer,  that, 
all  things  being  equal,  the  con- 
sumer buys  where  quality  and  price 
are  most  attractive.  Knowing  these 
fundamental  business  problems  and 
human  characteristics,  he  thought 
out  and  applied  a  simple  system  of 
automatic  saving  on  what  one 
spends  that  was  co-operative  as  be- 
tween the  retail  merchant  and  his 


customer.  He  developed  and  used 
the  Stamp  as  the  token  of  value. 
He  wisely  determined  to  use  some- 
thing of  this  sort  because  one  Stamp 
represents  a  fraction  of  one  cent 
and  must  of  necessity  be  both  cheap 
and  convenient. 

Because  this  Stamp  was  used  ex- 
clusively by  retail  merchants,  it 
quickly  became  known  as  the 
"Trading  Stamp."  To  make  it  of 
value  to  the  merchant,  he  put  three 
important  limitations  upon  its  use 
— one  that  it  should  not  be  sold 
and  made  available  for  every  mer- 
chant; otherwise  it  would  not  be  of 
the  greatest  value  to  the  merchant 
using  it;  another  that  it  should  be 
given  out  for  cash  trade  in  the  form 
of  a  discount;  the  object  here  was 
to  reduce  credit  and  promote  thrift; 
and  the  third  limitation  was  that  it 
should  be  redeemed  in  lots  of  1,000 
when  properly  assembled  in  a  book 
which  he  furnished  each  customer, 
so  that  in  the  course  of  their  trading 
in  different  places  where  Stamps 
were  given,  these  Stamps  could  be 
accumulated  and  placed  in  this 
book  until  filled,  when  it  was  then 
ready  for  redemption. 

Having  arranged  this  matter  for 
the  benefit  of  the  merchant  and 
created  the  Stamp,  stamp  book  and 
fixed  the  denomination  in  which  it 
should  be  redeemed,  it  still  re- 
mained for  him  to  prepare  for  the 
redemption  of  the  same;  hence  he 
began  to  establish  not  only  one  but 
many  places  in  the  various  impor- 
tant cities  of  the  United  States  in 
which  he  was  doing  business  where 
the  people  could  go  with  these  filled 
stamp  books  and  get  them  re- 


29 


Merchandise  Department. 


deemed.  It  is  here  that  he  recog- 
nized a  very  important  feature  of 
the  "S.&.H."  Company  and  the 
merchant  alike,  and  that  was  the 
element  of  service.  In  those  days, 
as  to-day,  merchants  were  offering 
many  kinds  of  service,  from  the 
skilled  and  gracious  clerk  and  free 
delivery,  to  the  nursery,  rest-room, 
concert  and  the  return  of  goods 
after  being  purchased  and  paid  for. 
The  merchant  found  our  system  of 
service  built  trade  and  brought  in 
the  cash  and  was  by  far  the  cheap- 
est service  he  could  buy;  and  he 
also  found  that  it  was  appreciated 
by  his  customers,  built  up  good- 
will and  was  actually  the  "tie  that 
bonds"  as  between  the  merchant 
and  the  community  he  seeks  to 
serve.  It  did  this  twenty-five  years 
ago — it  does  it  to-day. 

In  the  selling  of  this  Co-operative 
Discount  Plan,  Mr.  Sperry  built  up 
an  organization  of  salesmen  of  the 
highest  type;  while  in  the  operation 


of  these  stores  he  likewise  built  an 
organization  of  highly  specialized 
people  to  insure  the  success  of  the 
service  he  had  sold.  In  twenty- 
five  years,  the  "S.&H."  business 
has  grown  and  spread  from  Bridge- 
port, Connecticut,  to  nearly  every 
state,  city  and  town  in  the  United 
States,  and  is  known  also  to  nearly 
every  live,  progressive  merchant 
and  by  every  frugal  housewife. 
We  have  several  instances  of  small 
homes  having  been  actually  fur- 
nished from  the  stamps  obtained 
in  trade  and  redeemed  through  our 
stores.  Very  naturally,  and  justly, 
the  public  has  not  only  recognized 
this  service  more  and  more  each 
year,  but  the  growth  of  this  busi- 
ness has  impelled  the  growth  of 
other  stamp  companies  and  the  use 
of  the  coupon  by  manufacturers. 
The  coupon  and  other  stamps  differ 
in  their  application,  and  some- 
times in  their  denomination  and 
results,  but  one  principle  is  the 


30 


General  Office. 


same — co-operation  of  merchant 
and  consumer,  the  building  up  of 
volume  and  good -will  on  a  cash 
basis,  a  service  that  makes  possible 
the  healthy  expansion  of  business 
wherever  it  is  practised,  as  thou- 
sands of  merchants  using  this 
"silent  salesman"  to-day  can  tes- 
tify. Due  to  the  functioning  of 
immutable,  economic  laws  that 
dominate  all  business,  and  the  ac- 
ceptance of  the  idea  that  compe- 
tition is  the  life  of  trade  and  is 
democratic  rather  than  imperial- 
istic, the  Trading  Stamp  of  twenty- 
five  years  ago  has  gone  through 
many  vicissitudes  and  has  stood 
the  test  of  time  as  an  economic  fac- 
tor in  the  great  problem  of  distri- 
bution. Our  business  has  grown 
from  practically  nothing  in  1896, 
when  it  started,  to  a  volume  of  sev- 
eral million  dollars  annually,  and 
the  "S.&.H."  Green  Trading  Stamp 
has  held  the  position  of  first,  larg- 
est and  best  during  all  this  period. 


In  addition  to  this,  Mr.  Sperry's 
original  idea  has  never  been  im- 
proved upon  because  it  was  funda- 
mentally sound.  By  establishing 
redemption  stations  at  different 
points  in  the  United  States  where 
a  book  of  stamps  obtained  by  trad- 
ing in  New  York  can  be  redeemed 
in  Chicago  or  San  Francisco,  it  has 
become  national  in  its  scope,  and 
in  this  the  "S.&.H."  Discount 
Service  has  no  competitor.  Mr. 
Sperry  also  left  another  valuable 
asset,  and  that  was  his  organization 
of  trained  men  and  women.  There 
is  no  selling  organization  that  I 
know  that  is  more  virile  or  faces 
the  open  field  of  competition  with 
greater  zest  and  desire  and  accom- 
plishes greater  results.  It  has  car- 
ried the  "S.&.H."  banner  from 
coast  to  coast  and  from  north  to 
south.  It  has  even  gone  so  far  as 
to  reach  several  foreign  countries 
in  some  of  which  it  has  played  as 
important  a  part  as  in  America. 


31 


OUR    SILVER    ANNIVERSARY 


To-day  this  Company  points  with 
much  pride  to  the  fact  that  it  has 
many  thousands  of  merchants, 
some  of  whom  have  been  with  the 
company  ten,  fifteen  and  twenty 
years,  and  points  with  a  greater 
satisfaction  and  pride  to  the  fact 
that  many  of  them  who  started 
with  a  gross  volume  of  two  hundred 
to  two  hundred  and  fifty  thousand 
dollars  per  year  are  now  successful 
merchants  doing  a  business  of  sev- 
eral million  dollars  per  year.  That 
this  may  not  have  been  all  due  to 
the  use  of  the  Trading  Stamp  is 
not  denied  or  even  contended,  but 
we  have  absolute  knowledge  of  the 
virtue  of  the  Trading  Stamp  in  do- 
ing its  part  and  many  merchants 
ready  to  vouch  that  it  has  done 
more  than  they  expected. 

During  this  twenty-five  years 
there  have  been  many  imitators, 
some  impostors,  some  failures,  and 
much  discussion.  Largely  because 
it  has  been  restricted  in  its  use  and 
thus  made  an  effective,  competitive 
feature  of  retail  trade,  it  has  drawn 
the  fire  of  the  competitive  mer- 
chant, especially  the  one  who  is  so 
selfish  that  he  will  not  or  cannot 
understand  the  benefits  of  co-op- 
erative profit  sharing.  These  mer- 
chants have  frequently  organized 
to  drive  the  discount  idea  out  of 
retail  trade.  They  themselves  ask 
and  receive  discounts  on  what  they 
buy,  but  deny  this  privilege  to 
those  who  buy  from  them.  The 
inconsistency  of  their  position  and 
their  selfishness  they  do  not  admit, 
but  revel  in  calling  a  trading  stamp, 
especially  the  "S.&H."  Green  Trad- 
ing Stamp,  because  it  is  the  largest 
strongest,  a  "trust"  and  the  stamp 
service  the  "business  of  a  parasite." 
For  many  years,  Mr.  Sperry  paid 
little  or  no  attention  to  these  at- 
tacks, and  not  until  they  became 
so  virulent  in  form  through  mer- 


chants' associations  and  legislative 
enactment  did  he  decide  to  meet 
t  hem ;  and  when  he  did  he  defended 
his  business  as  he  did  everything—- 
with his  whole  heart  and  whole  soul 
and  whole  strength,  until  nearly 
every  Supreme  Court  in  nearly 
every  state  in  which  we  do  business 
has  said  the  "S.&H."  service  is 
as  legitimate  as  any  other  form  of 
service,  any  other  form  of  adver- 
tising, and  is  a  matter  between  the 
merchant  and  his  customers.  It  is 
neither  a  trust  nor  a  parasite,  and 
as  a  business  it  is  entitled  to  all  the 
protection  and  respect  that  the 
Fourteenth  Amendment  of  the 
Constitution  of  the  United  States 
gives  to  any  business. 

Do  you  realize,  and  does  any  one 
realize,  that  we  have  lived  the 
twenty-five  years  and  have  never 
violated  our  contracts  with  the 
holder  of  a  book  of  Green  Stamps? 
In  fact,  we  have  gone  so  far  in 
many  instances  as  to  redeem  par- 
tially filled  books,  to  secure  extra 
merchandise  and  sometimes  pay 
cash,  so  that  of  all  the  stamps  is- 
sued each  year,  we  are  now  re- 
deeming about  95%.  Do  you  re- 
alize (because  few  people  do)  that 
covering  the  period  of  our  existence 
about  $100,000,000  in  retail  value 
for  standard  merchandise  has  been 
distributed  as  real  profit  sharing 
as  a  discount  to  those  who  have 
given  their  cash  trade  of  approxi- 
mately four  billion  dollars  to  the 
merchants  using  the  "S.&H."  serv- 
ice? This  will  give  you  and  the 
merchants  using  "S.&H."  service 
some  conception  of  what  the  busi- 
ness has  been  and  is  and  will  con- 
tinue to  produce  for  those  using  it. 

The  Company  possesses  to-day 
$1,000,000  capital  and  has  about 
$3,800,000  of  total  assets  and  is  at 
the  head  as  the  leader  in  the  devel- 
opment and  use  of  premium  service 


OUR    SILVER    ANNIVERSARY 


in  merchandising.  During  the  last 
twenty-five  years  the  stamp,  which 
was  put  out  originally  for  about 
$5.00  a  thousand  to  the  merchant, 
has,  like  all  other  items  of  cost  in 
merchandising,  been  reduced  and 
has  for  the  past  ten  years  followed 
closely  a  standard  of  price  at  which 
it  is  now  sold  to  the  merchant. 
During  all  of  its  life  it  has  increased 
in  its  efficiency,  as  illustrated  by 
the  large  percentage  of  redemp- 
tions. To-day  this  high  efficiency 
excels  all  other  kinds  of  service  in 
the  retail  trade.  Another  impor- 
tant thing — it  has  never  been 
proven,  though  it  has  been  tried, 
that  it  added  anything  to  the  cost 
of  the  article  to  the  consumer,  nor 
will  it  ever  do  so  as  long  as  trade  is 
conducted  on  a  competitive  basis. 
Our  service  may  and  does  figure  as 
a  part  of  the  cost  of  doing  business, 
all  of  which  expense  is  finally  paid 
by  the  consumer,  but  it  pays  its 
ways  as  it  goes  to  an  extent  that 
no  other  service  does.  The  mer- 
chant who  enjoys  this  service  can 
count  on  operating  with  less  in- 
vested capital,  prompt  payment  of 
accounts,  smaller  losses  from  doubt- 
ful accounts,  and  a  satisfactory  in- 
crease in  the  volume  of  his  sales; 
and  it  frequently  takes  the  place  of 
other  forms  of  service  less  desirable 
that  are  equally  or  more  expensive, 
and  to  that  extent  is  a  further  bene- 
fit to  the  merchant  and  consumer. 
For  all  of  this,  Mr.  Thomas  A. 
Sperry  lived  and  died.  He  lived 
long  enough,  however,  to  be  able  to 
walk  upon  the  stage  of  life  with  the 
consciousness  of  the  conqueror,  and 
to  see  co-operation  and  thrift  prac- 
tised by  thousands  of  merchants 
and  millions  of  housewives  in  a 
practical  way  throughout  the  United 
States,  and  all  of  this  done  through 
I  lie  agency  of  his  little  ( Jreeii  Stamp. 
Eight  years  ago  he  was  taken  from 


us,  yet  he  laid  the  foundation  for 
successful  merchandising  through 
the  Spirit  of  Co-operation — that 
one  word  that  expresses  reciprocity 
in  trade,  that  one  word  that  means 
so  much  in  disposing  of  the  troubles 
of  a  chaotic  world.  Listen  to  what 
Arnold  Abbott  says  about  Co- 
operation : 

"Nothing  happens  without  CO- 
OPERATION. That  the  simplest 
thing  may  happen  the  whole  of 
NATURE  CO-OPERATES,  as  in 
the  forming  of  dewdrops,  for  in- 
stance. 

"CO-OPERATION  has  been  the 
spirit,  the  backbone,  the  prime  es- 
sential of  every  SUCCESS,  whether 
of  business  or  science,  transporta- 
tion or  education,  mechanics  or  pol- 
itics, government  or  diplomacy. 

"Every  employer  judges  his 
employes  by  their  ABILITY  to 
CO-OPERATE.  Subordinates 
progress,  other  things  being  equal, 
according  to  their  CAPACITY  and 
WILLINGNESS  to  CO-OPER- 
ATE. Executives  retain  their 
positions  only  if  they  cooperate 
successfully  writh  other  executives 
and  maintain  CO-OPERATION 
among  their  workers. 

"Eliminate  co-operation  and  we 
would  have  no  railroads,  no  steam- 
ship lines,  no  department  stores, 
no  great  manufacturing  establish- 
ments, no  music,  no  books,  no  gov- 
ernment. CHAOS  would  exist. 

"Since,  therefore,  CO-OPERA- 
TION is  ESSENTIAL,  common 
sense  dictates  that  it  should  be 
HEARTY  and  COMPLETE. 

"Co-operation  in  business  life 
means  more  than  merely  obeying 
orders.  It  means  working  with 
one's  fellow  employes  WHOLE- 
HEARTEDLY. It  means  avoid- 
ing the  friction  of  conspiracy, 
grouchy  deceit,  time-serving  sel- 
fishness, indolence  and  inattention. 


Advertising  Department. 


It    means    TEAM    WORK.     The 

pennant  winners  of  commerce  are 
those  who  have  best  solved  the 
problems  of  CO-OPERATION." 

Co-operation,  insofar  as  the  little 
Green  Stamp  could  do  it,  has  grown 
like  the  magnificent  palaces  in  the 
Arabian  Nights,  and  has  brought 
success  to  thousands  of  merchants 
and  consolation  and  comfort  to  mil- 
lions of  American  homes.  Many 
of  you  here  to-day  knew  Mr. 
Thomas  A.  Sperry.  It  is  an  added 
tribute  to  his  memory  and  his 
many  good  qualities  that  the  lead- 
ing people  in  this  organization,  per- 
haps 75%  of  them,  were  given  their 
start  and  received  their  specialized 
training  under  him.  I  also  knew 
Mr.  Thomas  A.  Sperry  as  a  young 
man — unmarried.  Afterwards  I 
heard  him  say  that,  except  his  wife, 
I  had  picked  one  of  the  best  that 
grew  in  Michigan.  I  knew  him  as 
a  business  man  and  as  a  friend. 
As  I  recall  my  acquaintance  with 


him  and  his  business  career,  I  think 
he  not  only  set  the  example,  but 
taught  us  several  important  things : 

1st — To  anticipate  requirements; 

2d — To  recognize  no  impedi- 
ments ; 

3d — To  develop  resources; 

4th — To  master  circumstances; 

5th — To  act  from  reason  rather 
than  rule; 

6th — To  be  satisfied  with  nothing- 
short  of  perfection. 

He  succeeded  because  he  was  an 
organizer,  a  builder,  and  recognized 
the  value  of  co-operation.  Review 
for  a  minute  his  business  organi- 
zation: 

1st — A  centralized  authority 
vested  in  him  as  President  and 
Managing  Officer; 

2d — He  was  always  a  trustee;  a 
trustee  of  the  capital  invested  by 
the  stockholders  in  this  business;  a 
trustee  of  the  confidence  of  the  mer- 
chants to  whom  he  sold  service  and 
taught  co-operation;  a  trustee  of 


34 


Sperry  Realty  Office. 


Assistant  Treasurer's  Office. 


the  men  and  women  employed  by 
this  company,  whose  daily  bread  and 
whose  future  was  possible  through 
his  leadership. 

We  cannot  erect  a  greater  tribute 
to  his  memory  than  he  himself 
erected.  It  remains  for  us  to  shoul- 
der his  burden  and  perpetuate  and 
honestly  administer  the  trust  he  has 
left  behind.  I  frequently  ask  my- 
self, are  we  equal  to  the  task? 
Then  I  know  we  have  done  hon- 
estly what  has  been  done,  and  I  try 
to  believe  it  would  have  his  ap- 
proval if  he  were  here.  The  great 
business  world  should  also  be  grate- 
ful for  what  he  did,  because,  at  a 
time  like  this,  when  the  nerves  of 
the  pocketbook  are  everywhere 
most  sensitive,  the  ideas  he  con- 
ceived and  promulgated  operate  in 
the  very  highest  degree  to  stimulate 
and  maintain  the  maximum  of  co- 
operation. We  possess  an  inheri- 
tance in  the  Trading  Stamp  wherein 
the  doctrine  of  chance  does  not  ex- 


ist, and  as  the  day  of  small  things 
has  never  passed  and  never  will,  we, 
of  the  "S.&H."  family,  take  pride 
in  being  a  part  of  the  thing  of  which 
life  is  made. 

Volume  of  sales  and  good  will  are 
just  as  great  a  problem  to-day  as 
they  ever  were  and  are  just  as  much 
a  fundamental  of  the  success  of 
any  business.  The  individual  mer- 
chant, or  even  the  individual  him- 
self, may  feel  that  he  or  she  is  a 
trading  stamp — a  small  part  of 
any  business — but  business  and  in- 
dividuals were  never  larger  than 
to-day,  and  the  trading  stamp  idea 
was  never  more  valuable  than  it  is 
at  this  very  time,  and  co-operation 
was  never  more  the  problem  of  the 
hour. 

As  symbolized  by  this  excellent 
oil  painting  representing  the 
strength  of  the  united  trinity — the 
"S.&H."  Green  Stamp,  the  mer- 
chant, and  the  consumer,  carrying 
forward  in  a  larger  way  his  wish  and 


35 


Auditing  Department. 


your  loyalty  and  labor  and  mine, 
we  lead  to  the  one  fundamental 
thought,  basic  as  to  winning  suc- 
cess in  all  endeavors — CO-OPE- 
RATION. 

May  I  ask  you  all  to  rise  while  I 
offer  this  brief  eulogy  to  our  own 
as  well  as  one  of  the  world's  bene- 
factors— to  Mr.  Thomas  A.  Sperry, 
the  Founder  of  the  "S.&H."  Green 
Trading  Stamp,  the  man  of  zest 
and  genius,  who  taught  the  world 
not  only  the  value  of  small  savings, 
but  how  to  do  it  automatically;  to 
Mr.  Thomas  A.  Sperry,  the  pro- 
moter and  salesman,  who  discov- 


ered a  practical  way  of  increasing 
volume  and  building  good-will  in 
the  retail  trade;  to  Mr.  Thomas  A. 
Sperry,  the  servant  and  bene- 
factor of  the  rich  and  poor  alike, 
who  realized  that  all  thrift  is  help- 
ful, holy  and  begets  happiness — to 
him  I  dedicate  this  wonderful  piece 
of  art,  on  this,  the  25th  anniversary, 
of  the  business  he  founded  and 
established. 

GEO.  B.  CALDWELL, 

President, 

The  Sperry  &  Hutchinson  Co. 


36 


SERVICE 


SERVICE  is  defined  by  Web- 
ster as  "The  performance 
of  labor  or  offices  at  the 
command  of  or  for  another." 
President  Eliot  of  Harvard  says, 
"To  be  of  service  is  a  solid  founda- 
tion for  contentment  in  this  world." 

Some  folks  wonder  why  I  like 
the  Trading  Stamp  business.  My 
answer  is,  a  larger  field  for  render- 
ing service — a  service  that  involves 
a  benefit  to  many  millions  of 
consumers  and  that  aids  merchants 
using  our  System  with  their  great 
problem  of  distribution.  It  is  also 
one  of  the  practical  avenues  of 
teaching  thrift  to  the  consuming 
public  and  the  spreading  of  the 
gospel  of  good-will  through  the 
agency  of  the  merchant  who  shares 
profits  with  his  cash  customer. 

This  is  the  true  vision  in  the 
field  of  the  Trading  Stamp,  whether 
it  is  green,  gold,  blue,  black, 
Eagle  or  star.  In  putting  the 
same  into  practical  use,  however, 
it  is  fraught  with  all  the  problems 
of  the  merchant  plus  those  of 
organization  and  operation  as  a 
company  that  sells  a  service  and 
afterward  makes  good  or  renders 
a  service. 

Those  who  knew  me  as  a  banker 
know  I  was  raised  in  the  Spartacan 
field  of  integrity.  Those  who  dealt 
with  me  in  person  returned  because 
I  was  able  to  render  them  a  service. 
Those  who  know  me  as  President 
of  The  Sperry  &  Hutchinson  Com- 
pany know  I  have  not  changed 
and  know  how  hard  I  have  tried 
to  cleanse  the  public  mind  from 
its  prejudices.  I  realize  that  1 
haven't  accomplished  everything 


in  this  respect,  but  I  do  know  that 
I  have  accomplished  much  and 
am  on  the  right  road  to  win  the 
confidence  of  the  open  minded. 

Last  month  I  published  in  this 
Bulletin  the  financial  statement 
of  The  Sperry  &  Hutchinson  Com- 
pany as  of  December  31,  1919,  and 
sent  a  copy  of  the  same  to  the 
principal  merchants  using  our  Sys- 
tem. This  statement  showed  over 
three  million  dollars  of  clean  assets. 
It  showed  over  one  million  one 
hundred  thousand  dollars  in  stamp 
reserve,  money  collected  from  the 
merchants  for  stamps  issued  by 
them  but  not  yet  redeemed  by  us. 
In  this  we  are  acting  as  a  trustee. 
And  it  is  that  same  confidence 
that  has  made  large  banks  in  point 
of  deposits  and  large  insurance 
companies  in  amount  of  insur- 
ance written.  As  a  banker  I 
consider  this  one  of  the  highest 
compliments  that  can  be  paid  me 
and  my  Company.  It  is  the 
fullest  expression  of  confidence. 

In  the  line  of  giving  you  good 
service  I  take  some  pride  in  not 
only  assuming  this  responsibility, 
but,  as  an  offset,  in  presenting  you 
a  very  liquid  financial  statement 
which  I  consider  a  very  excellent 
one.  A  reserve  fund  invested  in 
liquid  assets,  as  well  as  our  capital 
and  surplus  account,  is  the  insur- 
ance to  every  merchant  for  the 
redemption  of  every  stamp  issued 
by  him  to  his  customers.  The 
good  merchant  recognizes  this, 
and  therefore  this  is  progress  in 
rendering  a  service  that  I  am  sure 
will  be  appreciated. 

The  progress  I  can  see  is  that  I 


37 


SERVICE 


hope  I  have  gained  your  confidence, 
that  I  know  I  have  increased  our 
business,  and  that  my  own  con- 
science is  very  clear  as  to  the  im- 
proved condition  of  our  own  Com- 
pany financially. 

However  satisfactory  may  be 
our  financial  statement,  I  recog- 
nize, as  you  do,  that  every  premium 
service  fails  or  succeeds  according 
to  the  quality  of  its  premiums, 
which,  in  our  case,  are  largely 
standard  merchandise.  A  filled 
book  of  stamps  must  have  a 
satisfactory  value  in  the  hands  of 
the  collectors  to  keep  them  in- 
terested and  on  the  System.  A 
record  of  twenty-four  years  of  this 
Company's  existence  discloses  to 
me  that  over  Sixty  Million  Dollars 
worth  of  merchandise  has  been 
purchased  by  us  and  distributed 
to  collectors  in  nearly  every  State 
in  the  Union  in  the  redemption  of 
stamps  given  by  the  merchants 
with  whom  they  have  traded. 
Many  other  companies  have  been 
using  stamps  and  coupons  until 
to-day  there  is  an  established  "con- 
sumers' appetite,"  so  to  speak,  for 
these  tokens  of  a  discount  for  cash 
trade.  This  is  the  thing  the  mer- 
chant expects  and  buys  when  he 
contracts  for  our  service  or  uses 
premiums  in  any  way. 

How  well,  then,  can  we  render 
this  service?  It  might  be  that  the 
answer  lies  in  our  past  growth  but 
I  am  looking  forward  to  our  future 
growth  and  success,  and  that  is 
before  us. 

When  I  tell  you  that  redemptions 
for  the  past  five  years  in  this 
Company  are  96%  of  our  issue, 
I  am  stating  a  fact  of  great  im- 
portance— to  the  merchant  be- 
cause he  knows  his  customers  save 
and  redeem  what  he  gives  them  as  a 
discount  for  their  cash  trade — to 
the  customer  or  consumer  because 


in  the  majority  of  cases  they  have 
been  satisfied  and  continue  on  the 
System  and  buy  where  they  can 
fill  their  stamp  books.  To  them, 
then,  the  premiums  given  by  us 
have  been  and  are  an  inducement— 
to  the  company  selling  the  service 
because  it  has  fulfilled  its  promise, 
completed  its  service. 

You  will  recall  the  days  when 
stamp  and  coupon  companies  had 
a  small  redemption.  Every  new 
company  has  to  live  a  number  of 
years  to  build  up  a  clientele  that 
will  assure  it  a  large  redemption. 
And  as  a  part  of  the  service  this 
certainly  grows  more  valuable  to 
the  merchant  or  manufacturer  if 
the  Service  Company  has  years 
of  success  to  point  to  and  conducts 
its  business  honorably  and  with 
ability. 

I  have  no  criticism  to  make  of 
others,  but  I  am  one  of  those  that 
wish  our  redemptions  equalled 
100%.  I  could  then  claim  that  the 
value  of  my  Company's  stamp 
would  be  as  great  as  it  could  ever 
be  made  and  that  no  other  com- 
pany could  excel  in  this  particular 
service.  The  merchant's  cus- 
tomer would  be  realizing  every 
ounce  of  virtue  in  this  discount  or 
profit  sharing.  In  this  respect  I 
belong,  perhaps,  to  the  new  school. 
Certainly  it  is  so  much  a  part  of 
the  service  of  any  stamp  company 
and  so  valuable  a  thing  to  the  mer- 
chant that  I  am  mentioning  it  to 
you  so  that  your  attitude  toward 
me  and  my  Company  will  not  be 
one  of  believing  that  the  stamps 
you  pay  for  are  not  redeemed  by 
us.  They  are  either  redeemed  or 
a  reserve  fund  is  set  up  for  those 
that  are  unredeemed,  prepared 
to  take  care  of  them  when  they  are 
presented.  And  certainly  a  96% 
redemption  is  something  to  think 
about  and  to  talk  about. 


38 


SERVICE 


The  rendering  of  this  kind  of 
service  requires,  as  you  can  readily 
understand,  the  keeping  of  a  large 
stock  of  standard  merchandise. 
We  are  trying  to  keep  it  fresh  and 
clean  and  always  on  hand  in  a 
variety  and  quality  to  please  the 
clever  shopper  of  today  in  six 
hundred  different  redemption  sta- 
tions from  the  Atlantic  to  the 
Pacific.  This  merchandise  service 
is,  in  my  judgment,  the  life  of  our 
business  and  our  greatest  problem. 
We  have  given  it  much  thought 
and  attention  during  all  of  our 
existence  and  are  intensifying  this 
branch  of  our  service  at  present. 
With  us  the  keeping  of  stock  in  a 
branch  store  is  done  by  the  local 
branch  manager  sending  in  requi- 
sitions for  the  things  that  he  is 
out  of,  or  liable  to  be  out  of,  and 
we  in  the  Home  Office  collect  those 
requisitions  from  all  our  various 
stores  and,  by  buying  in  quantity, 
we  give  the  best  value  and  take  all 
the  advantage  that  the  market  can 
afford  us.  Our  buyers  are  con- 
tinually in  the  market,  renewing 
orders  for  premiums  that  are  popu- 
lar, looking  for  new  things  to  re- 
place those  we  can  no  longer  ob- 
tain. And  our  shipping  depart- 
ment is  seeing  that  the  goods  are 
delivered  as  per  order  and  as  per 
agreement  with  manufacturers. 
Our  turnover  and  our  inventories 
are  carefully  studied.  Our  com- 
plaint department,  like  that  of 
most  merchants,  tells  its  story  and 
is  greatly  diminishing.  The  in- 
crease in  our  redemptions  has 
increased  the  demand  upon  use, 


but  it  has  increased  the  service 
that  we  are  able  to  render  and  has, 
I  may  say,  greatly  improved  it. 
Fraught  as  we  have  been  and  still 
are  by  war  conditions  and  after 
effects,  we  have  proven  what  two 
years  ago  I  preached  to  every  one 
of  my  assistants,  "That  it  was  the 
time  to  make  the  effort  of  our  lives 
to  render  a  service."  That  we 
have  not  made  the  money  we 
should  is  because  we  did  not  in- 
crease to  the  merchant  the  cost  of 
our  service. 

But  this  is  beside  the  question. 
I  am  trying  to  please  both  mer- 
chant and  customer  and  shall 
continue  to  try  and  do  even  better 
in  the  future  than  I  have  in  the 
past.  This  problem  is  being 
rapidly  solved,  and  as  merchandise 
is  easier  to  get  and  conditions  im- 
prove there  should  be  a  better 
service  rendered  in  this  respect. 
I  only  ask  every  merchant  using 
our  System  to  visit  our  redemp- 
tion station;  examine  if  he  pleases 
our  redemption  records,  but  cer- 
tainly look  over  our  stock;  talk 
frankly  and  freely  with  our  local 
manager,  and  write  me  any  sugges- 
tions that  may  be  thought  helpful, 
both  as  regards  stockkeeping  and 
storekeeping.  My  Company  is  a 
service  company — nothing  else.  It 
is  your  agent  and  your  servant  so 
long  as  you  are  our  customer.  It 
is  your  confidence  and  co-operation 
I  want  and  must  have  if  I  succeed 
in  fulfilling  my  hopes  and  ambi- 
tions of  rendering  a  better  service 
each  year  to  a  greater  number  of 
merchants  and  consumers. 


Office  of  the  Purchasing  Agent. 


Coupon  Exchange  Department. 

40 


ETHICS   VS.    PRACTICAL  BUSINESS 


TIME  was  when  a  merchant 
sold  his  merchandise  largely 
upon  the  age  of  his  house, 
character  of  his  personnel  and  the 
quality  of  his  goods.  But  within 
the  last  few  years  cash  and  carry — 
chain  groceries — economy  stores- 
mail  order  companies  and  large 
syndicate  department  stores  have 
changed  the  whole  aspect  of  mer- 
chandising until  what  was  con- 
sidered ethics  in  business  twenty, 
aye,  ten  years  ago  must  have 
changed  according  to  the  changes 
that  have  been  made  in  merchan- 
dising. A  few  merchants  still  talk 
about  "ethics"  and  "dignity"  in 
their  business,  but  what  they  mean 
to  say  is  the  method  of  conducting 
business  according  to  their  notion 
or  ideas  and  not  according  to  the 
present  day  custom,  because  ethics 
is  nothing  but  a  system  of  principles 
and  rules  concerning  duty,  whether 
true  or  false,  and  applies  to  a  single 
class  of  human  actions — in  this  case 
merchandising. 

Time  was  when  the  organizers  of 
retail  druggists  associations  had  all 
— or  nearly  all — the  retail  druggists 
of  the  country  swelled  up  with  the 
idea  that  they  were  really  "pro- 
fessional" men,  and,  being  "pro- 
fessional," they  must  not  under  any 
circumstances  do  anything  so  un- 
ethical as  to  offer  trading  stamps  for 
the  purpose  of  building  up  their 
business.  This  was  fine  for  awhile 
and  would  have  remained  fine  if 
everybody  was  as  busy  keeping 
their  robes  of  dignity  from  slipping 
off  as  were  these  druggists  who 
stood  for  that  injection  of  profes- 


sional serum.  But  then  came  the 
modern  chain  drug  store,  smashing 
into  that  dignity  pose,  and  making 
the  word  "ethics"  sound  like  a 
swear  word  to  every  druggist  in  the 
country  who  had  fallen  for  it.  The 
druggists  became  aroused  by  an 
undignified  and  unethical  competi- 
tion (using  their  own  statement), 
and  in  the  race  with  competition 
and  to  keep  up  sales,  installed 
stamps  and  used  them  for  business 
building  purposes.  Those  who 
adopted  them  before  the  chain  drug 
store  hit  the  town  held  most  of 
their  trade,  and  those  who  adopted 
them  after  the  cyclone  had  struck 
the  town,  and  after  they  found 
themselves  obliged  to  defend  the 
business  they  had  devoted  years  to 
building  up,  are  very  grateful  for 
the  co-operative  feature  and  the 
pulling  power.  We  have  some 
mighty  fine  stamp-issuing  drug 
stores,  also  boot  and  shoe  stores, 
as  well  as  many  of  the  other  variety. 

The  point  here  is  that  the  mer- 
chant to-day  using  stamps  does  not 
labor  under  any  delusion  as  to  their 
being  ethical  or  unethical.  He  is 
face  to  face  with  the  problems  of 
practical  business  and  the  thousand 
things  that  are  being  used  by  his 
opponents  to  secure  trade  and  hold 
it;  and  to  him  trading  stamps  are 
but  one  of  the  many  methods,  but 
also  to  him  is  one  of  the  best 
methods  that  he  has  found,  expense 
considered,  that  will  keep  his 
organization  of  buyers  coming  back 
and  away  from  the  store  of  "cut 
prices"  and  "Special  Sales." 

It  would  seem  to  me  that  business 


ETHICS     VS.     PRACTICAL     BUSINESS 


in  every  line  is  fast  approaching  not 
an  unethical  or  an  undignified  posi- 
tion, but  a  more  ethical  and  a  more 
dignified  position.  The  definition 
of  dignity  is  "to  distinguish  by 
some  excellence,"  or  "that  which 
gives  celebrity."  Trading  Stamps 
given  as  a  discount  for  cash  trade 
does  not  destroy  the  quality  of  the 
goods,  it  does  not  partake  of  "Spe- 
cial sales,"  or  a  cut  in  prices — it  is  a 
distinguishing  characteristic  to  give 
a  discount  for  cash  in  any  line  of 
business.  It  is  a  trend  of  the  times 
to  share  profits  with  your  customers 
as  well  as  with  your  employes,  and 
some  of  the  oldest  and  largest  and 
best  houses  in  the  country  have 
changed  their  whole  business,  and 
therefore  by  changing  their  point  of 
view  have  changed  the  ethics  or 
dignity  that  governs.  It  seems  to 
me  we  all  overlook  that  fact  in  con- 
demning the  other  fellow's  point  of 
view  when  it  is  up  to  every  mer- 
chant to  promote  his  own  business 
in  his  own  way,  he  having  volun- 
tarily engaged  in  business  and  in- 
vested his  capital  for  profit.  Why 
should  he  not  have  the  right  to  do 
those  things  that  produce  results 
for  him?  That  they  be  wholly 
consistent  with  the  opinions  of  his 
competitors  does  not  seem  to  me  to 
be  necessary.  The  principal  point 
is,  are  the  things  you  are  doing 
beneficial  to  the  consuming  public 
and  to  yourself  and  do  they  produce 
results? 


Bearing  upon  this  very  subject 
is  the  opinion  of  Ex-Gov.  Judson 
Harmon  of  Ohio  who  was  also 
attorney-general  of  the  United 
States  during  the  Cleveland  admin- 
istration. He  said  in  vetoing  a  bill 
against  the  use  of  trading  stamps: 

"This  is  an  unwarrantable  at- 
tempt to  interfere  with  the  liberty 
guaranteed  to  every  citizen  to  dis- 
pose of  his  property  on  his  own 
term.  Purchasers  of  goods  need 
not  accept  such  stamps  unless  they 
wish  to  do  so.  They  are  merely  an 
inducement  to  trade,  whose  effec- 
tiveness depends  on  the  attractive- 
ness of  the  terms  offered.  They 
contain  no  uncertainty,  depend  on 
no  chance,  and  therefore  do  not 
appeal  to  the  gambling  inclination 
which  it  is  the  policy  of  our  laws  to 
restrain. 

"To  advertise  one's  business  is  an 
essential  part  of  the  right  to  carry 
it  on,  and  the  sale  of  trading  stamps, 
etc.,  to  be  used  by  other  merchants, 
if  they  are  willing  to  do  so,  is  a 
perfectly  legitimate  mode  of  adver- 
tising which  may  also  properly  in- 
clude a  profit  for  the  cost  of  pre- 
paring and  handling  the  stamps. 
It  is  not  within  the  powers  gran  fed 
to  the  general  assembly  directly, 
or  indirectly,  to  deny  this  right. 
It  is  common  to  deny  this  right, 
but  if  some  do  not  choose  to  exer- 
cise it  they  cannot  call  in  the  state 
to  take  part  against  their  com- 
petitors who  do." 


THE  BUYER'S  MARKET 


IF  we  look  around  us  for  some- 
body to  put  a  sudden,  or  even  a 
moderate,  stop  to  the  wild 
money  spending  that  is,  and  has 
been  going  on  for  some  time,  we 
must  admit  that  the  greatest  factor 
will  be  the  women  of  the  United 
States.  A  revival  of  the  habit  of 
saving  in  this  country  depends  on 
the  co-operation  extended  to  the 
movement  by  the  good  housewife, 
who  spends  probably,  if  not  quite, 
90  per  cent,  of  the  money  for 
operating  the  home.  They  are  the 
real  custodians  of  the  household  ex- 
pense account,  and  they  are  there- 
fore the  ones  on  whom  we  must  de- 
pend for  progress  as  the  arbiters  of 
the  Nation's  destiny. 

The  period  since  the  close  of  the 
war  has  been  one  of  fitful  produc- 
tion and  feverish  consumption,  in 
which  there  has  been  little  accom- 
plished in  creating  machinery  that 
will  enforce  the  savings  habit. 
This  may  be  the  reaction  from  a 
nervous  condition  induced  by  the 
war,  but  it  cannot  go  on  forever  and 
forever,  for  if  luxury  absorbs  the 
surplus  of  the  country,  we  shortly 
shall  lack  the  tools  with  which  to 
produce  the  things  to  exchange  for 
the  luxuries,  and  then  there  will  be 
an  end  of  luxuries  and  everything 
else. 

The  road  of  profligacy  ends  in  a 
desert.  High  prices,  inflation  and 
all  that  have  nothing  to  do  with 
saving.  It  is  just  as  important  to 
save  ten  cents  on  a  dollar  as  it  is  to 
save  ten  dollars  out  of  a  hundred 
dollars.  The  ratio  is  exactly  the 
same,  but  it  is  more  important 


than  ever  to  get  men  and  women 
who  will  save  either  sum  and  do  it 
automatically  and  without  a  seem- 
ing recognition  of  any  great  loss  of 
comfort  on  their  part. 

The  people  of  this  country,  while 
recognizing  the  ultimate  good  pur- 
poses of  the  propaganda  put  be- 
hind "Thrift"  are  a  little  tired  of 
ordinary  Thrift  talk.  Perhaps  they 
ought  not  to  be,  but  the  fact  re- 
mains that  they  are.  The  under- 
lying reason  is  that  Thrift  has  been 
taught  as  a  deprivation  of  comfort 
and  as  a  painful  limitation  of  con- 
sumption. In  other  words,  we 
have  always  been  taught  that  thrift 
is  a  provision  for  the  future,  and 
that  it  has  comparatively  little  to 
do  with  the  present,  except  in  the 
way  of  denial.  I  take  it  that  this 
is  not  only  an  unwholesome  notion 
of  thrift,  but  also  an  intrinsically 
vicious  and  anti-social  view.  "Save 
till  it  hurts"  illustrates  this.  Real 
thrift  is  not,  in  my  judgment,  based 
upon  self-denial,  but  upon  wise 
spending;  upon  getting  one's 
moneys  worth;  upon  the  exercising 
of  a  discriminating  judgment,  so 
ordering  one's  affairs  that  there  will 
be  a  margin  between  income  and 
outgo;  that  this  margin  will  be 
returned  for  the  uses  of  society  so 
that  he  who  is  thrifty  will  not  only 
augument  his  income  from  his  own 
handiwork,  but  also  will,  through 
the  affording  of  more  facilities  to 
society,  make  more  potent  his 
handiwork  efforts.  This  is  the 
positive  as  contrasted  with  the 
negative  thought  of  thrift.  It  is 
the  social  as  opposed  to  the  per- 


43 


THE    BUYER'S    MARKET 


sonal  laying-up-for-a-rainy-day  no- 
tion. When  we  come  to  think  of 
thrift  as  an  enlargement  of  one's 
capacity,  rather  than  as  a  limitation 
of  one's  consumption,  then  bursts 
on  us  the  bigger  meaning  of  thrift. 
It  then  becomes  not  only  a  good 
thing,  but  a  way  of  living  that  im- 
peratively must  be  sold  and  with  as 
much  ardor  as  any  commodity  ever 
was  sold. 

If  the  foundation  of  our  present 
society  rests  upon  thrift,  and  it 
does,  we  must  then  practice  thrift 
in  a  practical  way,  and  by  so  doing 
promote  the  fundamentals  in  our 
social  structure  and  our  business 
structure  as  well. 

To  increase  production — the  ne- 
cessity of  the  hour — requires  an 
addition  of  more  capital  to  industry. 
Nearly  every  corporation  is  asking 
for  more  money,  but  the  man  who 
had  the  money  to  invest  last  year 
doesn't  seem  to  have  it  to-day. 
The  man  who  had  a  large  sur- 
plus no  longer  has  that  surplus, 
nor  have  the  banks  the  same  sur- 
plus to  loan  now  that  they  had 
a  year  ago  or  two  years  ago.  There- 
fore, we  can  increase  production 
only  as  we  relatively  curb  our  needs 
or  increase  the  loanable  capital 
through  the  channels  of  practical 
thrift,  our  future  is  assured  only 
as  we  can  do  both.  The  man  with 
the  money  to-day  is  the  man  who 
works  for  wages;  it  is  he  who  re- 
ceives anywhere  from  sixty  to 
seventy-five  per  cent,  of  the  total 
income  of  the  country.  It  there- 
fore follows  that  if  we  do  not  have 
a  large  and  continuously  growing 
investment  in  industry,  production 
will  grow  relatively  smaller.  There 
is  the  point. 

The  economical  value  of  thrift  is 
to  be  sold  and  not  only  well  sold, 
but  kept  sold.  The  wage  earner  is 
the  consumer  and  the  capitalist  of 


the  future.  The  idea  that  prop- 
erty is  something  to  desire  and  not 
something  to  destroy  has  to  be 
demonstrated  by  affording  the  la- 
boring class  a  chance  to  own  prop- 
erty. How  is  this  man  with  his 
savings  going  to  be  induced  to  con- 
tinue to  save  and  to  get  into  indus- 
try as  a  capitalist  ?  He  has  to  come 
in  of  his  own  free  will.  He  doesn't 
want  to  be  forced  in;  he  doesn't 
want  to  be  told  that  he  is  not 
thrifty,  even  though  he  is  not.  In 
fact,  he  doesn't  like  to  be  per- 
suaded or  over-persuaded,  but  the 
inducement  should  always  be  where 
it  is  available,  and  when  it  is  auto- 
matically available.  I  do  not  mean 
by  this  that  you  should  increase  a 
man's  wages  and  then  arbitrarily 
confiscate  the  increase  in  order  that 
the  face  of  thrift  may  be  bright  and 
shiny.  If  we  are  to  have  general 
thrift,  it  is  the  part  of  the  employer 
to  give  whole  soul  encouragement 
through  the  various  mediums  that 
are  now  provided  for  profit  sharing. 
The  savings  bank  in  one  channel 
that  has  proven  itself  worthy  of  its 
right  to  exist  and  is  to-day  a  volun- 
tary depository  for  thousands  and 
millions  of  dollars  of  the  wage 
earners'  funds. 

The  profit  sharing  which  is  done 
by  an  employer  with  his  employes 
is  another  avenue  that  is  becoming 
practical  as  it  is  correctly  under- 
stood and  applied.  The  co-opera- 
tive profit  sharing  or  discounts  as 
given  by  merchants  to  their  cus- 
tomers is  another  principle  that  has 
long  been  established  and  more 
largely  developed  among  foreign 
tradespeople  than  in  America.  It 
is,  however,  growing  rapidly  in 
the  United  States  of  America,  where 
the  understanding  of  thrift  is 
coming  more  and  more  to  mean  not 
only  a  sharing  of  profits,  but  the 
conducting  of  trade  on  a  cash  basis. 


44 


THE    BUYER'S    MARKET 


For  nearly  twenty-five  years  the 
greatest  principle  of  thrift,  namely, 
of  producing  thrift  automatically 
by  those  who  have  money  to  spend, 
has  been  clearly  and  successfully 
demonstrated  by  those  merchants 
who  have  used  a  system  of  discount 
for  cash  trade,  in  the  fo^m  of  a 
trading  stamp.  The  Sperry  & 
Hutchinson  Company's  discount 
service,  in  the  form  of  the  "S.&H." 
Green  Trading  Stamp,  is  known  to 
the  millions  of  housewives  from 
coast  to  coast.  The  trading  stamp 
book  in  the  housewife's  hands  is 
almost  as  synonymous  of  thrift  as 
the  pass  book  of  the  savings  bank. 
Yet  neither  are  forced  upon  you  or 
labeled  in  type  as  "Thrift."  The 
one  represents  the  savings  by 
paying  cash  on  what  she  is  obliged 
to  expend  for  the  household  living 
expenses;  the  other  represents  the 
surplus  that  she  has  after  paying 
her  bills,  which  she  desposits  in  the 
savings  bank  to  draw  interest.  The 
ever-present  feminine  touch  has 
built  the  savings  bank  and  is 
building  the  trading  stamp  into  a 
practical  demonstration  of  thrift 
which  is  voluntary  and  almost 
automatic. 

The  "Cash  and  Carry"  scheme 
is  not  in  this  class.  It  fails  for  that 
reason.  The  lady  with  her  market 
basket  doesn't  get  anything  off  for 
cash,  that  can  be  visualized.  She 
doubts  the  reduced  price  and  it  is 
not  in  a  tangible  form  so  that  she 
can  see  any  increase  in  her  bank 
account  or  any  reduction  in  her 
expense  account.  She  does  not 
even  get  a  premium  that  adds  to 
her  comfort  and  happiness.  She, 


above  all  others,  has  been  taught  to 
use  service  and  to  appreciate  serv- 
ice, and  when  service  is  removed, 
you  discourage  her  in  her  efforts 
and  are  tearing  down  a  most  useful 
structure  instead  of  building  one. 
Those  who  are  using  and  rendering 
service  believe,  I  am  sure  in  what 
Robert  Louis  Stevenson  has  said, 
"While  we  live  we  serve,"  and  the 
women  of  the  land,  perhaps  more 
than  anybody  else,  are  the  people 
who  practice  and  are  the  exponents 
of  this  thought. 

A  discount  service  for  cash  trade, 
practiced  by  the  thirty  thousand 
merchants  of  the  United  States 
using  the  "S.&H."  system  of  serv- 
ice, has  distributed  in  standard 
merchandise  or  cash,  among  the 
people,  in  value  over  sixty  millions 
of  dollars  during  its  twenty-five 
years  of  existence.  Is  there  any- 
thing in  practical  thrift;  auto- 
matic thrift;  thrift  in  principle, 
without  the  word  "thrift"  being 
continually  thrust  before  you,  that 
equals  for  the  use  of  the  merchant 
the  service  The  Sperry  &  Hutchin- 
son Company  are  able  to  render 
you  through  its  organized  co-opera- 
tive discount  system?  I  am  sure 
an  impartial  analysis  by  economists, 
by  trade  experts,  and  by  practical 
merchants  who  have  added  this 
feature  to  their  business  will  con- 
firm my  conclusion  that  there  is 
nothing  better  or  equal  to  it,  and 
that  it  is  the  principle  that  should, 
and  will,  become  more  practical 
and  more  popular  as  our  economical 
problems  are  more  fully  understood 
and  we  are  called  upon  to  adopt 
practical  thrift. 


45 


Multigraphing  and  Addressing  Department. 


A  Corner  in  the  Mailing  and  Filing  Department. 
46 


VOLUME   VERSUS   NET  PROFITS 


EVERY  experienced  merchant 
realizes  "volume'  expresses 
the  amount  of  business  done 
a  in  given  time  against  which  a  given 
expense  or  fixed  operating  charge 
is  made  before  there  is  such  a 
thing  as  "Net  Profits"  Any  in- 
crease in  volume  each  year  is  looked 
upon  with  favor  as  it  means  the 
public  in  the  community  you 
serve  buys  more  from  you.  This 
sometimes  creates  a  false  condi- 
tion in  your  mind  as  to  the  net 
results  which  stare  you  in  the  face 
at  the  close  of  the  year  when  in- 
ventories are  taken,  books  closed, 
and  balances  struck.  This  small 
and  highly  uncertain  factor  decides 
the  very  existence  of  your  business 
and  measures  your  executive  man- 
agement accurately.  There  are 
records  galore  of  business  failures, 
but  if  "causes"  and  not  "effects" 
were  made  public  it  would  be 
answered  nine  times  out  of  ten  by 
the  failure  to  show  "Net  profits." 
This  single  item,  therefore,  stands 
out  above  everything  else.  It  de- 
termines not  only  the  earning 
power  of  your  capital,  but  its  se- 
curity, and  it  marks  your  judgment 
and  ability  as  a  successful  business 
man. 

All  of  the  above  is  important  in 
view  of  the  changes  now  taking 
place.  Every  one  knows  how  easy 
it  is  to  sell  at  a  profit  on  a  "bull 
market" — when  the  demand  is 
greater  each  day  than  you  can  get 
your  goods  to  supply,  and  when 
even  old  stock  can  be  marked  up 
and  sold  at  a  profit  bordering  on 
profiteering — a  profit  that  will 


cover  unusual  expenditures,  waste 
and  extravagance.  The  task 
comes  as  "deflation"  takes  place 
and  the  market  slides  back  to 
normal.  Your  executive  must  then 
make  profits  under  a  different 
method  of  operating  and  often 
at  the  expense  of  "Volume."  The 
success  of  Sales  and  Advertising 
Campaigns  used  in  the  one  case 
do  not  always  fit  the  other  ex- 
treme; if  you  continue  them  on 
the  same  scale  with  a  drop  in 
volume  your  ratio  of  expense  in- 
creases and  your  ratio  of  net  profits 
decreases. 

Let  us  take  an  an  illustration  a 
stock  of  merchandise  representing 
an  investment  of  $100,000.  You 
turned  over  your  stock  three  times 
in  a  year,  or  have  sales  of  $300,000 
a  year  at  a  gross  profit  of  33  1-3%, 
or  $100,000.  Your  comparative 
operating  expenses  would  be  about 
as  follows : 


Rent  
Int.  6%  
Taxes  and  Ins  
Labor  

1917 
....$10,000 
6,000 
6,000 
.  .  .   25,000 

1920 
$15,000 
7,000 
10,000 
35,000 

Overhead  
Sales  &  Adv  

15,000 
....    15,000 

20,000 
20,000 

Total . 


.$77,000      $107,000 


If  the  $100,000  in  stock  on  hand 
in  1917  invoices  to-day  $50,000 
more,  you  made  $43,000  in  1920 
against  $23,000  in  1917.  This  is  a 
rough  illustration,  but  is  an  ex- 
ample that  visualizes  what  has 
occurred  in  three  years.  The  large 
profits,  if  any,  the  last  two  years 
have  been  made  possible  through 
scarcity  of  merchandise,  and  this 


47 


VOLUME  VERSUS  NET  PROFITS 


has  enabled  the  turnover  of  all 
stocks  at  a  very  profitable  figure. 
But  this  condition  is  being  or  is 
about  to  be  reversed.  Every  one 
talks,  hopes,  thinks  and  knows 
it  will  come — knows  that  the  peak 
has  been  reached — that  in  some 
lines  a  break  in  factory  prices  is 
already  in  evidence.  The  execu- 
tive management  of  every  store  is 
therefore  to-day  face  to  face  with  a 
new  situation,  and,  may  I  say,  a 
more  difficult  one?  His  volume  is 
up — his  operating  expenses  are 
40%  to  50%  up,  and  his  net  profits 
are  already  diminishing.  As  the 
buying  power  of  his  customers 
shrinks  so  will  volume  shrink; 
unless  he  can  shrink  operating 
expenses  accordingly  his  net  will 
shrink;  as  net  shrinks  his  capital 
earns  less  and  his  credit  line  drops. 
Sales  and  advertising  campaigns 
planned  to  fit  last  year's  expense 
account  and  last  year's  merchan- 
dising conditions  must  be  revised 
and  the  amount  reduced  propor- 
tionately at  least.  Executive  man- 
agement will  scrutinize  all  expenses 
closer,  but  with  the  strain  of  hold- 
ing up  volume  will  naturally  sup- 
port their  sales,  promotion  and 
advertising  departments.  The 
analysis  of  your  $20,000  adver- 
tising and  sales  promotion  ex- 
penditure probably  includes  $5,000 
—possible  $6,000— for  the  "S.&H." 
Stamp  service,  as  this  represents 
about  2J^%  on  70%  of  your  sales, 
or  less  than  2%  on  your  total  sales. 
Your  further  analysis  leads  you  to 
conclude  this  expenditure  cannot 
be  reduced  but  should  be  increased 


because  it  is  the  only  expenditure 
made  on  aclual  sales — money  in 
hand  before  stamps  are  given. 
This  form  of  sales  promotion  is 
backed  by  a  stamp-giving  and 
stamp-collecting  community  that 
appreciates  and  has  for  years 
enjoyed  this  co-operative  profit 
sharing  and  likes  it.  If  advertising 
is  an  educational  force,  a  declara- 
tion of  principle  and  a  breeder  of 
public  confidence,  (and  it  is  so  re- 
garded,) the  co-operative  profit 
sharing  between  merchant  and 
customer  is  all  this  plus  a  trade 
builder  and  a  teacher  of  Thrift. 
There  is  really  but  one  market— 
your  own  community.  There  are 
several  competitors  for  the  trade  of 
this  community  besides  the  mail- 
order houses.  The  study  of  con- 
ditions by  the  executive  manage- 
ment will,  I  think,  cause  him  to 
hesitate  about  reducing  his  ad- 
vertising, promotion  and  sales  ex- 
penses and  lead  him  to  use  more 
willing  and  more  generously  his 
stamp  service.  The  profit  on  each 
dollar  spent  here  is  actual  and 
present  business  as  well  as  new 
business  is  legitimately  promoted 
and  held  at  a  minimum  of  cost. 
Every  manager  is  certainly  facing 
the  dual  responsibility  of  main- 
taining his  volume  and  net  profits 
and  while  all  must  expect  a  drop 
he  will  suffer  least  who  does  the 
best  by  his  customers.  The  differ- 
ence from  now  on  will  not  be  so 
much  the  ability  to  get  the  mer- 
chandise but  in  the  methods  used 
to  sell  the  same  and  the  service 
rendered. 


48 


HIGH   LEVEL  OF  PRICES 


WHAT  is  the  cause  of  the 
continuance  of  the  high 
level  of  prices,  and  is  this 
high  level  justifiable?"  These  are 
pertinent  and  insistent  questions  in 
which  you,  as  a  merchant,  are  par- 
ticularly concerned.  It  appears  to 
me  that  in  order  to  clearly  under- 
stand the  present  rise  of  prices 
there  are  one  or  two  basic  facts 
or  underlying  principles  that  must 
be  kept  in  mind;  namely,  that  the 
price  of  practically  every  com- 
modity depends  upon  the  cost  of 
labor  and  raw  material  entering 
into  its  production  and  the  cost 
of  distribution.  By  labor  we  mean 
EVERY  HUMAN  EFFORT  EN- 
TERING INTO  THE  PRODUC- 
TION whether  hand  work  or  brain 
work.  If  the  price  of  labor  rises, 
the  price  of  the  commodity  pro- 
duced by  that  labor  must  rise  too. 
Only  one  thing  can  prevent  a 
rise  of  price  with  a  rise  of  labor 
cost — that  is  additional  produc- 
tion. To  illustrate;  if  a  man  is 
paid  $3.00  a  day  for  making  a 
pair  of  shoes  and  his  wages  are 
increased  to  $6.00  a  day,  the  only 
thing  that  can  prevent  the  cost 
of  shoes  advancing  would  be  the 
production  by  that  man  of  two 
pairs  of  shoes  a  day.  The  present 
situation  is  such  that  since  1915, 
as  you  well  know,  labor  of  every 
variety  has  been  greatly  increased 
but  the  volume  of  production  has 
not  increased.  In  fact  production 
has  fallen  off,  and  where  a  man 
formerly  made,  let  us  say,  one 
pair  of  shoes  a  day,  he  now  makes 
one-half  a  pair  or  three-quarters 


of  a  pair  of  shoes.  You  can 
readily  see  that  with  rising  labor 
costs  and  reduced  production  the 
cost  of  shoes  would  go  up  by  leaps 
and  bounds.  Fundamentally,  this 
is  what  has  driven  the  cost  of 
everything  sky  high  in  the  last  few 
years.  This  affects  all  material, 
both  finished  and  raw,  which  we 
buy.  The  first  cost  is  that  of  raw 
materials.  Here  is  a  list  of  a  few 
articles  and  the  comparison  of  the 
cost  of  1915  and  1920  as  of  July  1st. 


1915 


1020 


Percent- 
age of 


Tin,  per  pound.  ...$   .327  $   .485  48%, 

Tallow,  per  pound      .07  .14  100%, 

Rosin 025  .092  268%, 

Coal,  per  ton.  .  .  .   5.38  10.26  90%; 

Boxes 1 .28  3.50  123% 

Paper  boxes 6 . 08  16 . 03  163% 

Bottles 1 1 . 60  28 . 20  143% 

Nickel    shaving 

stick  boxes.  ...   3.21  5.28  64% 

The  raw  material  listed  above 
and  prices  are  furnished  us  by 
Colgate  &  Company. 

The  next  charge  against  gross 
is  freight  and  shipping  cost.  In 
1915  these  were  $1.76  per  hundred 
and  for  the  quantity  shipped  to-day 
the  cost  is  $4.50,  an  increase  of 
156%.  To  this  must  be  added  the 
recent  additional  freight  increase 
granted  of  40  to  45%. 

Selling  expenses  have  likewise 
increased  proportionately,  includ- 
ing all  forms  of  newspaper  and 
magazine  advertising.  There  has 
also  been  a  great  increase  in  taxes; 
increase  in  the  price  of  money  to 
finance  growth  and  expansion,  and 
increases  in  the  cost  of  nearly  every 


49 


HIGH    LEVEL    OF     PRICES 


type  of  service  and  commodity 
needed  for  the  maintenance  of 
any  business  organization. 

A  study  of  these  examples  shows 
that  the  average  rate  of  increase 
has  been  up-to-date  around  120%. 
The  question  naturally  arises,  why 
should  not  the  service  rendered 
by  The  Sperry  &  Hutchinson 
Company  be  increased  in  propor- 
tion to  all  other  lines  of  service 
and  in  keeping  with  the  increase 
in  labor  and  raw  materials.  The 
facts  are  that  we  have  been  in 
business  twenty-four  years  and 
during  the  first  ten  years  of  the 
business  prices  for  our  service  were 
around  four  and  five  percent. 
During  the  ten  years  prior  to  1915 
the  tendency  of  all  business  was 
to  increase  the  volume  and  reduce 
the  cost,  and  we  were  one  of  those 
that  showed  a  very  great  increase 
in  our  volume  and  a  very  great 
decrease  in  our  cost  to  our  mer- 
chants. For  ten  years  the  price 
of  our  service  has  been  practically 
normal.  Merchants  who  have 
used  our  service,  while  under  con- 
tract, have  been  able  to  renew 
their  contracts,  generally  speak- 
ing, at  the  former  prices.  We 
have  been  able  to  do  this  by  keep- 
ing down  our  operating  expenses 
first;  second,  by  short  cuts  and 
rigid  economy;  third,  by  increasing 
the  volume  of  our  business  and 
fourth,  by  keeping  our  range  of 
premiums  as  to  variety  and  quan- 
tity even  better  than  before,  ad- 
mitting, however,  that  we  have 
had  to  reduce  the  quality  of  the 
one  book  article.  In  doing  this 
we  have,  wherever  we  could,  kept 
the  same  article  in  stock,  but 
naturally  at  an  increased  value. 
At  no  time,  however,  has  the  value 
placed  upon  our  merchandise  been 
out  of  harmony  or  higher  than 
those  prices  charged  by  the  retail 


merchant  whom  we  were  serving. 
Where  we  raised  prices  we  did 
so  rather  than  substitute  cheaper 
and  less  desirable  articles  and  we 
have  found  that  the  public 
generally  understood  that  we  were 
equally  as  justified  in  making  our 
prices  for  our  premiums  correspond 
to  the  market  price  as  was  any 
other  merchant. 

To-day  The  Sperry  &  Hutchin- 
son Company  has  $1,650,000.00 
invested  in  merchandise  distri- 
buted in  our  warehouses  and  among 
our  several  hundred  stores  for  the 
purpose  of  giving  the  best  service 
possible.  The  money  required  to 
carry  this  stock  of  merchandise  is 
fifty  to  seventy-five  percent  greater 
than  heretofore;  yet  we  have  not 
asked  any  more  for  our  service. 
We  invite  every  merchant  that 
we  meet  to  visit  our  redemption 
stations  and  compare  the  prices 
that  we  are  getting  with  those  of 
his  own  for  similar  articles;  and 
we  also  invite  every  merchant  to 
co-operate  with  our  local  or  branch 
manager  by  showing  us  where  we 
can  improve  our  service  in  this  re- 
spect. After  you  have  made  such 
an  examination  (and  only  then) 
can  you  judge  for  yourself  whether 
we  are  endeavoring  to  maintain 
fair  and  honest  prices  and  to  give 
you  and  your  clients  the  service 
par  excellence. 

Merchants  who  are  seeking  to 
reduce  stocks  for  cash;  those  of 
you  who  are  seeking  to  share 
profits  with  your  customers  and 
hold  and  build  a  permanent  clien- 
tele, are  invited  to  give  your  best 
consideration  to  the  discount  serv- 
ice which  we  furnish  in  the  form 
of  "S.&H."  Green  Trading  Stamps. 
Just  remember  that  the  use  of  a 
discount  of  this  kind  brings  you 
in  the  cash,  brings  your  customer 
back  and  does  not  operate  as  price 


50 


HIGH    LEVEL    OF    PRICES 


cutting  to  injure  your  good  name 
and  demoralize  trade  in  general. 

Every  merchant  to-day  is  con- 
sidering all  the  new  economic  con- 
ditions, new  theories,  and  par- 
ticularly those  advanced  on  the 
subject  of  advertising.  Most  of 
these  theories  seem  to  have  in 
view  an  increase  in  the  advertising 
expenditure.  If  you  will  analyze 
the  experience  of  merchants  who 
have  steadily  used  our  form  of 
service  you  will  discover  they  have 
had  less  trouble  in  holding  their 
trade  and  at  less  expense  than 
those  using  other  methods. 

If  you  ask  this  question,  "What 
is  the  smallest  expenditure  which 
will  put  my  proposition  across?" 
we  will  answer  that  the  discount 
service  of  The  Sperry  &  Hutchin- 
son  Company  is  the  least  expensive 
and  most  practical  service  of  this 
kind  that  you  can  buy.  It  is  a 
service  that  is  continuous.  It  is 
practical  because  it  is  only  given 
to  those  who  actually  buy  and 
pay  cash.  It  promotes  good  will. 
It  builds  trade  and  it  brings  the 
customer  to  your  store  day  after 
day.  To  condemn  or  let  up  on  an 
advertising  expenditure  of  this 
kind  is  practically  saying  that  you 
can  sell  your  merchandise  without 
effort.  You  know  and  everybody 
knows  that  this  is  impossible. 
Sales  effort  cannot  be  suspended  at 
any  time  and  particularly  at  this 
time  when  the  appetite  of  the  buy- 
ing public  is  not  as  keen  as  it  was 
and  is  likely  to  be  reduced  rather 
than  increased  as  conditions 
change. 

There  is  a  superstition,  or  some- 
thing akin  to  it,  that  supports  the 


idea  that  appropriations  for  ad- 
vertising should  increase  in  ratio 
to  sales.  Logically  this  expense 
should  be  in  an  inverse  ratio  to 
sales,  for  the  maximum  expendi- 
ture for  advertising  is  needed  when 
sales  are  smallest  and  distribution 
is  weakest.  We  are  not  advertis- 
ing in  the  sense  that  you  buy  space 
in  the  newspapers  or  magazines. 
The  "S.&H."  discount  service  has 
no  relation  to  expenditure  of  this 
kind,  for,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  it  is  a 
true  discount  paid  to  the  customer 
in  the  form  of  a  Trading  Stamp, 
based  on  his  or  her  purchases,  and 
increases  in  expense  only  as  sales 
increase  and  decrease  as  sales 
diminish. 

From  the  day  you  start  using 
our  service  in  your  store  the  logic 
of  the  case  can  be  ascertained  by 
the  exercise  of  reason  and  ordinary 
common  sense,  and  the  results  can 
be  figured  out  at  the  close  of  busi- 
ness each  day  or  each  week  or  each 
month.  What  you  are  really  up 
against  is  a  desire  for  more  business 
(volume)  or  the  holding  of  the 
present  volume,  we  will  say. 
Whether  you  can  do  this  or  not 
will  depend  upon  your  ability  to 
furnish  the  proper  service  to  the 
consuming  public  in  your  com- 
munity and  keep  the  expense  of 
the  same  within  reason  and  not 
absorb  all  your  profits.  You  may 
be  a  good  salesman  to-day,  but  you 
will  need  to  be  a  better  salesman 
to-morrow  and  still  better  next 
week,  next  month  and  next  year. 
This  is  why  the  "S.&H."  Service 
lives  and  grows  whether  prices  are 
high  or  low. 


51 


SELLING 


THE  problem  of  distribution 
is  the  problem  of  selling. 
The  merchant  in  the  retail 
trade  is  the  big  agency  of  service. 
He  serves  the  manufacturer  and 
jobber  as  well  as  the  consumer. 
He  makes  more  sales  and  the  last 
one.  His  position  is  one  of  com- 
petition with  other  merchants  sell- 
ing similar  lines  and  a  necessity 
of  distributing  enough  merchandise 
in  his  own  community  at  a  profit 
to  justify  his  existence.  Yet  in 
this  essentially  great  and  wonderful 
service  ninety  percent  of  busi- 
nesses fail,  according  to  the  mer- 
cantile agencies.  Sixty  percent 
was  the  actual  business  death  rate 
in  a  thriving  Western  city.  Actual 
figures  were  analyzed  on  4,369 
concerns  entering  business  during 
the  thirty  years  ending  in  1916. 
An  analysis  of  business  failure 
statistics  compiled  by  Bradstreet's 
showed  that  82.5  percent  of 
failures  are  due  to  shortcomings 
of  personnel  or  faults  of  manage- 
ment in  some  form  or  other. 

The  high  business  mortality  is 
largely  because  those  conducting 
business  do  not  know  what  they 
are  doing.  They  proceed  to  hazard 
their  investment,  their  good-will 
and  their  funds  on  the  basis  of 
guess,  hope  and  enthusiasm.  They 
fail  because  they  haven't  learned 
the  art  of  selling. 

Business  management  of  this  sort 
might  aptly  be  termed  Ouija  Board 
Management.  The  Ouija  Board 
sometimes  gets  things  right  but 
it  is  not  reliable.  It  does  not 
base  its  conclusions  on  facts  and 


reason.  Business  men  must  have 
facts  upon  which  to  base  their  de- 
cisions for  procedure.  Hunches 
work  sometimes  but,  like  the  Ouija 
Board,  they  cannot  be  depended 
upon. 

The  owner  of  a  business  may 
know  that  his  capital  turnover  is 
two  or  three  times  a  year,  yet  he 
feels  that  somehow  he  is  not 
getting  maximum  use  from  his 
capital.  He  feels  that  he  should 
have  a  turnover  of  four  or  five 
times  a  year  but  he  has  not  the 
necessary  knowledge  to  enable  him 
to  determine  where  his  capital 
is  being  tied  up. 

From  now  on  merchants  will  be 
pressed  for  credit  and  you  will 
grant  it  nine  times  out  of  ten  be- 
cause you  make  a  sale  and  hold  a 
customer.  Unless  you  make  it  an 
object  for  the  customer  to  pay 
cash  many  merchants  will  find 
capital  and  borrowed  money  at 
high  rates  tied  up  in  "Accounts 
Receivable."  It  is  right  here  that 
the  Sperry  Service  can  be  used  with 
profit.  Money  at  6%  on  a  turn- 
over  of  three  times  a  year  is  18% 
when  credit  is  granted.  If  a  dis- 
count service  for  cash  trade  costs 
the  merchant  2^%  or  even  3%  he 
will  have  a  nice  profit  on  his 
capital  by  using  "S.&H."  Service. 
He  will  borrow  less,  have  a  better 
bank  balance  and  avoid  bank- 
ruptcy. He  will  likewise  hold 
trade  and  insure  additional  sales. 
This  means  turnover,  fresh  stock 
and  more  profits.  Supposing  your 
net  profit  is  5%  on  each  sale.  You 
turn  your  stock  twice  a  year  and 


SELLING 


make  10%  three  times  a  year  and 
make  15%  four  times  a  year  and 
make  20%  less  whatever  increase 
there  may  be  in  your  overhead. 
To  do  this  and  extend  credit  spells 
increased  capital  investment — 
dangerous  short  time  borrowing, 
the  cost  of  which  is  several  times 
the  cost  of  our  service.  These 
facts  are  easily  verified.  For  this 
reason  the  principle  of  cash  trade 
has  had  the  approval  of  Trade 
Commissions,  Chambers  of  Com- 
merce and  Merchants  Associations 
generally.  Trading  stamps  used  as 
a  discount  for  cash  trade  cannot 
therefore  be  wrong.  It  is  not  a  tax 
on  business  that  should  be  dis- 
couraged but  from  every  point — 
profit  to  the  merchant  using  them 
— of  holding  and  building  trade, 
of  teaching  people  to  buy  for  cash 
and  of  rewarding  them  and  pro- 
moting thrift,  they  have  their  place 
in  trade.  "The  birth  of  science 


was  the  death  of  superstition," 
Huxley.  Substitute  facts  for  ap- 
pearance and  demonstrations  for 
impressions.  Study  the  "Sperry" 
Discount  Service  as  used  by  many 
of  the  best  merchants  for  over  24 
years,  live  close  to  the  problem  of 
"selling"  as  I  have.  Take  notice 
of  the  growth  everywhere  of  the 
idea  of  co-operation — profit-sharing 
co-operative  societies — and  watch 
the  trading  stamp  service  of  the 
"S.&H."  Co.  grow  and  merchants 
using  it  grow  with  it.  It  is  eco- 
nomically, ethically  and  scien- 
tifically a  selling  help — a  service 
first  developed  and  organized  by 
Mr.  T.  A.  Sperry  deceased,  reor- 
ganized by  me  to  fit  the  times  and 
operated  by  men  of  integrity  in 
every  department.  As  you  try 
to  analyze  your  selling  problem 
remember  I  want  to  help  you — I 
know  I  can. 


53 


CASH   TRADE 


MR.  MERCHANT,  how 
many  families  in  the  radius 
from  which  you  draw  trade 
pay  cash  for  their  merchandise? 
You  cannot  answer — you  can  only 
answer  as  to  your  own  sales  and 
you  may  judge  by  that  it  is  about 
50%.  How  much  of  this  50%  cash 
trade  do  you  get?  You  of  course 
wish  you  were  getting  it  all — but  of 
course  you  cannot  and  do  not  in 
actual  experience  get  it  all.  You 
have  competition  and  always  will 
have;  if  not  competition  at  home 
it  is  in  a  nearby  town  or  with  the 
mail  order  houses,  and  you  are 
therefore  put  on  the  defensive  from 
the  day  you  start  in  business  as  to 
means  and  methods  which  you 
will  apply  to  secure  as  much  as 
possible  of  the  trade  in  your  com- 
munity and  especially  the  cash 
trade,  which  is  always  the  most 
desirable. 

In  this  connection  I  want  to  say 
there  is  no  plan  in  operation  to-day 
(other  than  the  "S.&H."  Green 
Stamp)  that  enables  the  retail 
merchant  to  say  that  he  controls  or 
owns  the  cash  trade  that  comes  into 
any  store,  for  the  reason  that  cash 
trade  is  a  free  lance  and  spends  its 
money  where  it  can  get  the  most 
for  it.  Cash  trade  is  therefore  a 
proposition  that  is  here  to-day  and 
there  to-morrow  unless  the  dealer 
has  a  tie  that  binds  between  himself 
and  the  customers.  It  is  just  here 
that  the  co-operative  discount  sys- 
tem of  The  Sperry  &  Hutchinson 
Company  becomes  co-operative  and 
is  the  "tie  that  binds." 

You  can  and  do  insure  your  life 


and  your  health  and  you  insure 
your  propery  against  burglary, 
theft,  etc.  Some  merchants  pay 
an  indemnity  company  to  have 
their  accounts  insured,  but  unless 
you  have  used  the  "S.&H."  Green 
Stamp  you  have  not  done  the  most 
you  can  to  insure  the  good-will  of 
your  customers.  I  have  had  many 
merchants  tell  me  during  the  six 
years  I  have  been  at  the  head  of 
this  business  that  The  Sperry  & 
Hutchinson  Company  Discount 
Service  is  the  cheapest  and  best  in- 
surance they  use  that  insures  them 
of  good-will  and  cash  trade. 

I  quote  from  a  recent  letter  from 
one  of  our  merchants,  who  says: 

"The  Stamps  are  given  solely 
as  a  discount  which  every  one  is 
entitled  to  who  pays  cash.  The 
saving  of  "S.&H."  Green  Stamps 
in  this  community  of  a  hundred 
thousand  people  is  not  beneath 
the  dignity  of  anyone.  We  all 
encourage  and  nearly  all  of  us 
practice  practical  economy,  and 
in  this  respect  "S.&H."  Green 
Stamps  are  the  greatest  lesson  in 
saving  and  practical  thrift  that 
can  be  put  into  practice.  From 
75%  to  80%  of  our  trade  ask  for 
them." 

I  might  quote  from  letters  re- 
ceived from  many  other  merchants 
from  Portland,  Me.,  to  Portland, 
Ore.,  and  I  might  quote  from  the 
decisions  of  Courts  holding  our 
system  lawful,  ethical  and  bene- 
ficial to  all  merchants  using  same. 
Your  time  is  too  valuable  to  go  over 
the  many  decisions  we  have  ob- 
tained; one  will  suffice,  namely, 


CASH    TRADE 


the  decision  of  the  Supreme  Court 
of  Montana  in  the  State  of  Mon- 
tana versus  Lutey  Brothers  and 
The  Sperry  &  Hutchinson  Com- 
pany. The  Court  quotes  from 
Webster's  and  other  dictionaries 
the  definition  of  the  words  "bonus" 
and  "premium"  and  says: 

"Does  the  furnishing  of  Trad- 
ing Stamps  as  shown  in  the  case 
before  us  constitute  the   giving 
of  a  premium  or  bonus  within 
the  meaning  of  the  statute  ?     The 
transaction  involves  no  element 
of   chance,    uncertainty   or   con- 
tingency— in  fact  it  amounts  to 
a  specific  deduction  for  a  cash 
purchase — a   percentage   or   dis- 
count— and  does  not  fall  within 
the  condemnation  of  the  statute." 
Here  is  the  testimony  of  a  mer- 
chant on  the  value  of  the  Stamp  in 
his    store    as    a  "tie    that    binds" 
himself   to    as    much   of   the    cash 
trade   in   his   community   as   it   is 
possible  for  him  to  get,  and  here  is 
the   decision   of   a   State   Supreme 
Court  on  our  system  being  a  "Dis- 
count for  Cash  Trade." 

To-day,  from  every  source  comes 


the  story  of  the  drop  in  prices, 
which  spells  drop  in  volume  and 
probably  drop  in  profits.  Query: 
What  should  the  merchant  do  that 
is  beneficial  to  his  trade  and  himself 
alike  to  offset  this?  I  maintain 
that  the  Sperry  &  Hutchinson  profit 
sharing  service  which  is  well  organ- 
ized, already  working  in  over  1,800 
cities  in  the  United  States,  and 
which  is  national  in  its  scope  and 
familiar  to  many  millions  of  the 
buying  public  is  something  that 
should  not  be  overlooked  and  can 
be  used  by  you  to  your  advantage. 
We  have  the  country  organized  by 
districts,  zones  and  branches,  and  a 
representative  from  any  one  of 
these  centers  will  call  upon  you, 
discuss  your  problem  with  you  and 
explain  to  you  the  use  of  our  system 
in  your  store  and  how  it  can  be 
used  to  benefit  you.  When  once 
established,  they  are  always  on  the 
job  to  see  that  the  service  sold  you 
is  rendered.  What  more  could  I 
promise  you?  If  not  already  one 
of  our  merchants  are  you  willing  to 
give  us  an  opportunity  to  show  you 
results  in  your  store?" 


PUBLIC  OPINION 


THE  greatest  force  with  which 
every  one  must  contend  is 
"what  will  the  public  think 
or  say?"  The  business  of  The 
Sperry  &  Hutchinson  Company 
has  been  in  the  lime  light  for  twenty- 
four  years.  It  has  during  all  that 
period  done  its  work  well;  consist- 
ently and  honestly  sold  and  re- 
deemed the  "S.&H."  Green  Trad- 
ing Stamps.  In  doing  this  it  has 
just  as  consistently  and  honestly 
defended  its  business  against  other 
companies  organized  to  compete 
with  us — and  some  merchants  or- 
ganized to  make  us  trouble — 
largely  because  we  were  the  "Silent 
Salesman"  in  the  store  of  his  com- 
petitor. The  opinion  of  these  peo- 
ple is  trade  opinion,  not  public 
opinion  in  its  largest  and  best  sense. 
Out  of  a  public  of  one  hundred  and 
ten  million  people,  twenty-five  mil- 
lion, let  us  say,  are  the  earning 
power  and  do  the  buying  for  all. 
At  least  ten  million  of  these  people 
are  to-day  saving  stamps  and  cou- 
pons and  therefore  giving  their 
CASH  TRADE  to  the  merchants 
using  this  form  of  discount.  So 
many  times  do  merchants  make  the 
mistake  of  allowing  prejudice  and 
adherence  to  old  ideas  and  customs 
operate  against  their  progress  that 
I  am  going  to  publish  by  consent 
two  letters  recently  written  by  two 
large  department  store  owners  in 
answer  to  an  inquiry  from  a  third 
department  store  about  to  con- 
tract with  us.  The  replies  were 
the  honest  expression  of  honest 
men  as  I  have  come  to  know  them 
personally  and  watch  their  business 


grow.  The  questions  they  answer 
are  practical  and  to  the  point  with 
every  merchant  and  are  ex  parte 
in  that  they  did  not  originate  or 
come  in  any  way  to  our  attention 
before  they  were  written  in  No- 
vember. I  accept  them  as  a 
Thanksgiving  blessing  and  pub- 
licly record  my  appreciation. 

Spokane,  Wash.,  Nov.  3,  1920. 
My  dear  Mr.  - 

Replying  to  your  letter  of  Octo- 
ber 2,5th,  referring  to  the  use  of  the 
Sperry  &  Hutchinson  Trading 
Stamps  as  an  advertising  proposi- 
tion, what  we  say  to  you  we  say 
from  our  own  viewpoint  and  speak 
frankly,  and  should  we  not  make 
our  answer  clear  will  be  more  than 
pleased  to  have  you  make  a  second 
request  asking  for  further  state- 
ments at  any  time. 

The  writer  took  occasion  to  travel 
five  thousand  miles  to  personally 
visit  concerns  in  this  line  of  business 
who  were  using  the  Sperry  &  Hut- 
chinson stamp.  After  fully  inves- 
tigating the  results  obtained  by 
these  concerns,  in  Portland,  Ore- 
gon; Seattle,  Washington;  St.  Paul, 
Minneapolis;  Milwaukee,  Wise.; 
Chicago,  111.;  Hammond,  Ind.;  St. 
Louis  and  Cleveland,  we  were  con- 
vinced that  the  system  had  great 
value.  Hereupon  we  signed  a  con- 
tract covering  a  period  of  ten  years. 

Having  established  confidence  in 
the  plan  and  believing  in  it  myself, 
I  took  occasion  to  introduce  the 
idea  to  all  of  our  salespeople  in  the 
store,  the  department  men,  buyers, 
managers  and  advertising  man, 


56 


PUBLIC    OPINION 


and  convinced  them  to  a  100% 
that  the  plan  was  good.  We,  there- 
fore, have  had  no  exception  in  the 
store  to  the  use  of  the  stamp. 

Should  you  decide  to  use  the 
stamp  yourself,  first  be  heartily  and 
thoroughly  convinced  that  it  is  a 
square  deal  to  your  customer.  Be- 
lieving this  then,  teach  it  to  your 
organization  heartily  and  thor- 
oughly, taking  the  required  amount 
of  time  necessary  before  introduc- 
ing it  to  your  trade.  We  have 
found  the  result  entirely  satisfac- 
tory. 

We  have  found  the  company  en- 
tirely reliable  from  Mr.  Caldwell, 
the  president,  down  to  the  least 
employe.  We  find  their  organi- 
zation efficient,  willing,  accommo- 
dating in  the  extreme.  The  com- 
pany has  done  as  much  as  they 
agreed  to  do  for  us,  and  even  more. 

In  our  state  the  cash  redemption 
is  used  exclusively.  In  our  inves- 
tigation we  found  about  as  many 
in  favor  of  premium  redemption  as 
cash.  However,  we  very  much  pre- 
fer the  cash  redemption  as  far  as 
we  are  concerned  personally. 

We  might  say  also  that  we  can- 
not advertise  the  stamps  in  the 
newspapers  of  our  city. 

By  the  following  we  will  en- 
deavor to  answer  your  questions  in 
order  as  asked. 

First — We  think  one  and  one-half 
UH%)  is  as  low  as  it  would  run, 
judging  by  our  own  experience. 

We  established  Wednesday  as 
Double  Stamp  Day,  and  never  de- 
viate from  it.  We  never  give 
double  stamps  on  any  other  occa- 
sion. Our  Wednesday  business  has 
grown  almost  equal  to  our  Saturday 
business. 

Second — We  feel  that  the  use  of 
the  stamp  would  increase  your  ad- 
vertising appropriation  unless  the 
volume  of  business  should  increase 


sufficiently  to  overcome  this.  After 
we  had  established  the  stamp  ad- 
vertising we  discontinued  the  morn- 
ing paper,  with  no  bad  effect  that 
we  know  of. 

Third— We  think  that  the  cash 
business  would  increase,  but  we  do 
not  believe  that  the  so-called  high 
brow  trade  would  be  in  any  manner 
repelled.  In  fact,  our  experience 
has  been  the  opposite.  We  have 
never  done  any  credit  business, 
however. 

Fourth — We  believe  you  should 
use  the  stamps  systematically, 
never  deviate  to  exploit  some  par- 
ticular line  of  goods  by  extra  stamp 
inducement.  Although,  conditions 
in  your  city  surrounding  you  would 
have  something  to  do  with  deciding 
this  policy. 

We  are  very  particular  to  have 
the  people  take  the  stamps  on  the 
day  the  purchase  is  made.  We  al- 
ways request  the  salespeople  to 
hand  a  duplicate  sales  check  to  the 
customer,  saying — This  is  good  for 
the  discount  stamps,  or  premium 
stamps,  as  the  case  may  be. 

Fifth — With  us  the  stamp  feature 
does  not  lose  its  advertising  value. 
In  fact,  it  is  accumulative,  and  if 
properly  handled,  we  believe  will 
continue  to  be  a  drawing  power  for 
business.  We  very  much  prefer 
that  100%  of  our  customers  take 
the  stamps. 

Sixth — We  cannot  intelligently 
answer  this  question  as  local  condi- 
tions surrounding  a  business  would 
have  so  much  to  do  with  our  de- 
cision. This  you  would  have  to 
decide  for  yourself.  Laying  aside 
local  conditions,  I  would  say  yes. 

Seventh — Knowing  what  we  do 
about  the  stamps,  we  emphatically 
say  you  would  be  justified  in  plac- 
ing them  in  your  business. 

Eighth — Our  customers  are  very 
eager  to  save  these  stamps  as  thereby 


57 


PUBLIC    OPINION 


they  do  their  own  accounting,  keep- 
ing a  definite  record  of  the  amount 
of  their  purchase,  upon  which  they 
are  given  1.66%%  discount  on 
every  dollar  which  they  report  by 
delivering  a  book  filled  with  stamps. 
This  money  means  money  in  their 
pocket,  therefore,  the  interest. 

Ninth — In  our  case  it  does  not. 
The  people  think  very  well  of  the 
discount  system  which  we  use.  By 
the  use  of  these  stamps  they  also 
appreciate  the  opportunity  to  re- 
deem other  coupons  and  include 
them  in  their  book. 

Business  firms  which  do  not  use 
the  stamp  are  the  only  source  of 
opposition  which  we  have,  and  with 
us  we  have  entirely  overcome  this 
opposition. 

The  disposition  on  the  part  of  the 
people  now  to  want  discounts  and 
special  concessions  strengthens  the 
use  of  stamp  advertising. 

(A) — We  would  not  advise  dis- 
pensing with  other  forms  of  adver- 
tising right  at  the  beginning.  How- 
ever, very  few  firms  discontinue 
their  other  forms  of  advertising. 
This  form,  as  Mr.  Davis,  of  Roths- 
child Co.  of  Chicago,  said  to  me — 
stamp  advertising  will  do  for  your 
business  what  no  other  form  of  ad- 
vertising can  do.  Namely,  to  keep 
your  regular  customers  constantly 
reminded  of  your  store,  making 
them  willing  to  give  you  the  first 
opportunity. 

If  you  fail  to  compete  with  other 
people  in  price  of  merchandise  as- 
sortment, or  pleasing  service,  the 
stamp  will  not  sell  your  goods,  but 
it  will  give  you  the  first  call  in  most 
cases. 

(B) — We  do  not  believe  the  nov- 
elty of  the  use  of  the  stamp  grad- 
ually wears  off,  except  through  the 
fault  of  the  concern  using  them. 
If  your  salespeople  are  lukewarm 
and  do  not  believe  that  the  stamp 


is  a  fair,  just  and  valuable  as  offer- 
ing a  small  discount  to  the  cus- 
tomer, then  chances  are  that  they 
will  fail  to  even  mention  the  fact 
that  the  stamps  can  be  had,  in 
which  case  the  customer  may  grow 
indifferent.  Otherwise — never. 

(C) — The  system  is  exceedingly 
popular  with  our  customers  and 
continues  so.  I  have  before  me 
now  sheets  showing  that  stamps  are 
given  to  customers  of  85%  of  our 
gross  sales,  which  is  very  gratifying 
to  us. 

If  we  have  failed  to  make  clear 
any  of  these  points,  kindly  let  us 
know. 

Respectfully  yours, 
PALACE  STORE  COMPANY, 
Per  GEORGE  A.  PHILLIPS, 

President. 

Tacoma,  Wash.,  Nov.  4,  1920. 
Dear  Sir: 

We  are  in  receipt  of  your  letter 
of  October  25th  and  shall  endeavor 
to  answer  same  in  as  careful,  con- 
scientious and  painstaking  manner 
as  possible,  for  we  ourselves  had 
exactly  the  same  thought  in  mind 
and  the  same  questions  to  propound 
some  years  ago,  prior  to  the  time 
that  we  adopted  the  policy  of  giving 
green  trading  stamps.  We  define 
the  trading  stamps  by  using  the 
word  "Green  Trading  Stamps,"  as 
we  do  not  consider  any  other  stamp 
in  the  market  of  any  particular 
value  other  than  ordinary  discount, 
which,  when  offered,  is  a  special  in- 
ducement for  cash  without  having 
any  co-operative  feature,  for  The 
Sperry  &  Hutchinson  Company 
have  a  strong  organization,  and  are 
up  and  doing  all  the  time,  increas- 
ing their  clientele  and  by  that 
means  building  up  a  co-operative 
system,  which  has  a  tendency  to 
concentrate  the  public  purchasing 
power  with  the  stamp  users. 


58 


PUBLIC    OPINION 


(1)  In  answer  to  your  question 
number  one  would  you  state  that 
their  figures  total  exactly  with  ours, 
after  eight  years  of  stamp  giving, 
"and  we  are  exceedingly  liberal,  in- 
sist on  our  salespeople  encouraging 
the  saving  of  stamps  by  offering 
the  stamps  to  each  customer."     We 
have  had  one  Jubilee  Week  in  the 
last  eight  months,  and  our  regular 
system  of  double  stamps  for  three 
forenoons  each  week,  together  with 
an  occasional  double  stamp  induce- 
ment at  one  time  or  another,  and 
yet  1;M>%  covers  the  total  cost. 

(2)  Would  state  that  we  keep  a 
record  of  competitive  advertising, 
and  we  endeavor  to  make  a  portion 
of  the  stamp  expense  apply  on  our 
advertising  appropriation,  holding 
our  ad  down  so  that  with  the  addi- 
tion of  the  stamp  expense  it  will 
not  run  much  out  of  proportion  to 
that  of  our  competitors,  in  propor- 
tion  to   our  business   with  theirs. 
At  the  same  time  the  purchase  or 
expense    connected    with    trading 
stamps  must  not  always  be  con- 
strued   as    an    expense.     For    in- 
stance, there  are  days  when  we  offer 
trading    stamps    in   lieu    of   price- 
cutting,  and  especially  during  the 
present  time  when  merchandise  is 
on  a  falling  market;  we  find  that  the 
trading  stamp,  which  is  a  weapon 
solely  our  own,  "as  we  are  the  only 
Department  Store  in  the  city  giving 
them,"  we  have  something  to  offer 
against  our  competitors,  for  in  place 
of  making  deep  cuts  we  offer  the 
trading  stamps  as  an  inducement, 
so  that  under  those  circumstances 
they   must   not   be   considered   an 
expense. 

(3)  In  answer  to  question  three, 
which  embodies  two  questions;  one 
is,   "Which  part  of  your  business 
would   be   most   affected,   cash   or 
credit,"  and  the  other  "Who  are 
the    stamps    most    popular    with, 


everyday  class  or  high-brows," 
would  state  that  we  give  stamps 
on  cash  purchases  only,  or  charge 
and  C.  O.  D.  purchases  settled 
within  ten  days  from  date  of  pur- 
chase. Consequently,  it  has  been 
a  stimulant  to  our  cash  business, 
the  side  of  our  business  which  we 
are  most  anxious  to  increase,  and 
stamps  really  helped  us.  In  an- 
swer to  your  other  question,  we 
find  that  just  as  many  among  the 
high-brow  are  practicing  economy 
as  among  the  everyday  people,  and, 
in  fact,  to  a  greater  extent.  The 
trading  stamp  in  our  community  is 
looked  upon  as  a  means  of  thrift 
and  is  encouraged  by  the  better 
class  of  people.  Of  course,  you 
realize  that  the  encouragement  of 
thrift  has  been  aided  very  much 
during  the  war  period,  and  the 
more  educated  the  public  have  be- 
come along  those  lines,  the  more 
popular  trading  stamps  have  be- 
come, so  that  the  fact  of  your  put- 
ting in  trading  stamps,  in  our  opin- 
ion, would  not  in  any  way  be  a  re- 
flection on  the  cleanest,  and  most 
modern  business  institution. 

(4)  In  answering  number  four 
would  say  "yes."  We  have  taken 
the  stand  that  the  public  derive  a 
double  advantage  by  trading  at 
our  store;  first,  by  receiving  stand- 
ard merchandise  at  a  price  lower 
than  our  competitors  are  offering; 
secondly,  receiving  a  cash  discount 
in  the  shape  of  green  trading 
stamps,  and  on  several  occasions 
we  have  used  the  stamps  to  stimu- 
late certain  lines  in  our  store.  For 
instance,  at  this  time  of  the  year 
we  shall  issue  a  book  with  ten  or 
twenty  free  stamps  to  each  child 
accompanied  by  his  or  her  parent 
or  guardian,  who  makes  a  pur- 
chase for  the  child;  we  advocate  the 
desirability  of  encouraging  Young 
America  to  save,  and  at  this  season 


59 


PUBLIC    OPINION 


of  the  year  we  help  them  to  start  a 
book  for  the  purpose  of  cashing  in 
and  buying  their  Christmas  pres- 
ent. Sometimes  we  use  it  as  a 
means  of  encouraging  the  opening 
of  a  bank  account  by  the  young- 
ster. Of  course,  you  realize  that 
premiums  are  not  permissible  in  the 
State  of  Washington,  much  to  our 
regret;  consequently  stamp  books 
are  redeemed  in  cash.  We  say 
much  to  our  regret,  for  the  pre- 
mium parlor  in  our  store  was  one 
of  the  greatest  attractions  we  had 
/  to  offer,  and  it  was  a  common  thing 
for  a  customer  to  select  some  arti- 
cle, costing  from  one  to  ten  books, 
and  then  start  out  to  fill  the  books 
with  the  thought  of  this  premium 
continually  in  mind.  Again,  these 
premiums  got  into  a  home,  and  it 
was  an  ever-permanent  advertise- 
ment for  the  store  that  was  giving 
green  trading  stamps.  Our  com- 
petitors, however,  realizing  the 
weapon  which  we  had,  succeeded  in 
getting  the  legislature  to  enact  leg- 
islation which  put  a  stop  to  pre- 
miums, so  that  our  books  are  re- 
deemed in  cash,  which  works  very 
well  along  the  lines  I  have  out- 
lined. 

(5)  In    answer   to    number   five 
would  say  that  the  newness  of  sav- 
ing never  wears  out;  the  life  of  the 
stamp  and  its  drawing  power  de- 
pends altogether  on  you,  and  the 
co-operation  that  you  receive  from 
the  others  in  your  community  who 
are    interested    in    giving    stamps. 
Trading  Stamps  are  just  as  popu- 
lar with  us  to-day  as  they  were  the 
first  time  we  put  them  in;  just  as 
much  of  a  stimulant  to  our  busi- 
ness, with  as  much  drawing  power. 

(6)  In    answer    to    number    six 
would  state  that  if  I  were  in  your 
place  and  desiring  to  increase  my 
volume  of  business,  I  can  see  no 
better   method  than   I   have   out- 


lined, for,  of  course,  I  realize  that 
every  concern,  no  matter  how  large 
it  is,  is  not  alone  willing,  but  anx- 
ious to  increase  its  volume,  for 
there  is  no  such  thing  as  standing 
still — one  must  either  go  forward 
or  backward — consequently,  my 
answer  to  number  five  practically 
covers  number  six. 

(7)  My  answer  to  number  seven 
is  that  I  presume,  personally,  I  have 
been    the    hardest    nut    that    the 
Sperry  &  Hutchinson  people  have 
ever  had  to  crack  in  the  way  of 
inducing  me,  "as  a  store  policy," 
to  adopt  Trading  Stamps,   and  I 
want  to  tell  you  right  now  that  had 
I  known  as  much  about  them  then, 
as  I  do  now,  I  would  have  adopted 
the    trading    stamp    several    years 
before  I  did  as  the  policy  of  our 
company. 

(8)  In  answer  to  number  eight, 
interested  saving  stamp  customers 
are  just  as  anxious  and  hungry  for 
them  to-day  as  at  any  time,  for, 
as  I  have  stated,  people  who  get 
the  habit  of  thrift,  in  the  way  of 
saving    trading    stamps,    look    for 
their   cash   discount   with   just   as 
much  .expectancy  and  desire  as  you 
look  for  a  2%  off  10  days,  on  your 
purchases.     I  know  that  as  a  con- 
cern we  are  just  as  much  interested 
in  our  cash  discounts  to-day  as  we 
have  been  at  any  time  in  our  his- 
tory, and  the  same  really  applies  to 
stamp  savers. 

(9)  In   answer   to   number   nine 
would  say  "no,  not  at  all";  we  are 
looked  upon  to-day  as  live,  shrewd, 
wide-awake   merchants,   using  the 
most  modern  methods  to  increase 
our  business,   and  while   we   were 
about  sixth  from  the  top  of  the  lad- 
der,    when    we    adopted    trading 
stamps,  would  say  that  to-day  we 
are  making  a  desperate  fight  with 
two  of  our  competitors  for  second 
place,  and  believe  that  our  sails  are 


60 


PUBLIC    OPINION 


set  more  firmly  to  catch  the  favor- 
able winds  that  will  land  us  there 
without  question. 

The  Sperry  &  Hutchinson  peo- 
ple have  proved  to  be  very  fair  at 
all  times,  and  have  never  yet  failed 
to  carry  out  any  part  of  an  agree- 
ment entered  into.  It  is  a  co- 
operative business,  and  the  success 
of  the  stamp  users  is  their  success; 
it  could  not  be  otherwise,  conse- 
quently it  is  to  their  advantage  to 
increase  the  stamp  savers. 

The  writer  has  tried  to  answer 
your  questions  as  intelligently  as 
possible.  If  there  is  anything  that 
I  have  not  fully  covered,  will  be 
glad  to  answer,  for  I  consider  it 
along  the  lines  of  the  ethics  of  busi- 
ness for  one  firm  to  be  at  perfect 
liberty  to  receive  an  unprejudiced 
and  frank  opinion  from  another, 
in  a  manner  strictly  confidential. 

Very  truly  yours, 

McCoRMACK  BROS.  DEPT.  STORE, 
(Signed)  JAMES  McCoRMACK, 

President. 


I  have  often  deplored  the  fact 
that  I  was  not  a  merchant — I  could 
perhaps  get  closer  to  the  merchant 
and  his  problem.  The  merchant 
likes  to  learn  things  from  a  mer- 
chant, especially  one  that  grew 
from  a  small  merchant  to  a  leader 
in  his  community  and  has  a  suc- 
cessful record  for  making  money. 
Department  Store  managers  who 
are  considering  what  they  can  do 
to  stem  the  tide  of  a  drop  in  vol- 
ume and  net  profits  are  here  offered 
the  experience  of  two  of  their 
brother  merchants  who  have  used 
the  "S.&H."  Stamp  Service  for 
some  years.  I  will  add  my  desire 
to  meet  you  and  persuade  you,  if 
possible,  to  duplicate  their  experi- 
ence in  your  own  store,  for,  with 
all  your  prejudice,  the  "S.&.H." 
Green  Stamp  is  willing  to  serve  you 
in  a  manner  so  satisfactory  that 
you  too  will  be  willing  to  write 
letters  to  your  brother  merchants 
creating  a  favorable  opinion. 


CO-OPERATIVE  CO-OPERATION 


WHEN  manufacturer,  mer- 
chant and  consumer  are 
all  doing  business  at 
reasonable  prices  and  at  a  reason- 
able profit,  results  are  the  best. 
This  I  think  is  what  is  meant  by 
''normal."  Certainly  it  brings  pro- 
duction, distribution  and  consump- 
tion into  a  condition  where  each 
may  be  said  to  function  and  restore 
harmony  and  stability  of  trade. 
To-day  we  are  deflating  from  the 
dizzy  heights  of  war  prices,  where 
the  saying  is  that  rich  men  have 
grown  richer  and  the  poor,  if  not 
poorer,  are  still  poor.  This  saying, 
however,  is  never  a  good  one  to 
use.  If  this  saying  means  any- 
thing, it  means  that  the  manu- 
facturer or  merchant  admits  he  is 
outclassed,  outdistanced  or  out- 
played in  trade  by  his  compet- 
itor; for  my  analysis  is  that  there 
is  a  degree  of  wealth  but  not  a 
degree  of  poverty.  In  business 
the  poor  man  is  the  man  who  has 
neither  capital  nor  credit,  and 
people  so  rated  are  very  few  in 
business.  It  is  true  the  world 
over,  that  some  have  more  of  this 
world's  goods  than  others,  hence 
the  necessity  for  the  Credit  Man, 
and  therein  lies  the  opportunity  for 
demagogue,  the  propagandist,  for 
the  referendum,  boards,  commis- 
sions, socialistic  doctrines,  anar- 
chists, heresies,  etc.  Co-operation 
under  these  conditions  sometimes 
becomes  difficult  and  the  agents 
of  trade  fail  to  function.  It  is 
these  things  that  we  are  to-day 
trying  to  understand  and  regulate. 
To  the  trouble-maker  everything 


in  and  about  business  to-day  is 
suspicious.  Anyone  who  says  a 
good  word  for  it  is  regarded  as  the 
paid  tool  of  the  interests;  but  on 
the  other  side  are  millions  of  busi- 
ness men,  especially  merchants, 
who  are  so  firmly  convinced  of  the 
value  of  their  service  and  who  are 
such  ardent  believers  in  the  efficacy 
of  the  industrial  order  that  to 
challenge  them  for  it  is  like  de- 
nouncing a  man's  religion.  To 
some  of  these  minds  the  mildest 
criticism  is  hotly  rebuked  as  social- 
istic. Naturally,  under  such  cir- 
cumstances, it  is  not  easy  to  get  at 
a  quick  remedy  for  our  troubles 
or  rise  above  the  petty  prejudices 
which  bind  us  to  one  or  the  other 
point  of  view.  Let  us  detach  our- 
selves if  we  can  from  either  side 
of  this  controversy,  and  in  a  truly 
sane  moment,  and  possessed  of 
independent  mind  we  cannot  help 
but  be  impressed  by  the  con- 
tinuously daily  miracle  of  the 
daily  production,  distribution  and 
consumption  of  goods. 

One  is  sometimes  led  to  suppose 
in  the  volume  of  criticism  that 
telephone  lines,  railroads,  coal 
mines,  had  ceased  to  function  and 
to  suppose  that  the  commodities 
or  service  provided  by  these  in- 
dustries as  well  as  by  the  merchant 
had  either  become  unattainable  or 
had  fallen  off  to  such  an  extent  as 
to  no  longer  play  any  factor  in  our 
national  life;  while  the  facts  are 
that  all  these  things  are,  as  a 
matter  of  fact,  a  service  being  sup- 
plied in  larger  quantities  and  to  a 
larger  number  of  people  than  ever 


CO-OPERATIVE    CO-OPERATION 


before.  Clothes,  shoes,  automo- 
biles, bread  and  even  sugar  are 
available  and  actually  being  con- 
sumed by  more  people  than  ever 
before.  Failures,  defeats  and  evils 
there  are,  but  any  group  of  us  that 
is  preoccupied  with  them  naturally 
becomes  blind  to  the  basic  ele- 
ments of  success,  because  after  all 
the  supreme  fact  is  that  this  great 
industrial  machine,  vast  as  it  is 
and  complicated  as  it  is,  no  man 
could  have  ever  conceived  of  from 
the  outside.  It  has  grown  up  and 
it  does  work. 

What  I  am  emphasizing  and 
what  I  maintain  the  facts  justify 
is  the  miracle  of  continuous  in- 
dustrial operation,  for  it  is  con- 
tinuous as  viewed  in  the  large, 
year  after  year  and  decade  after 
decade.  The  wonder  is  that 
supply  and  demand  do  adjust 
themselves  to  the  reasonable  and 
general  satisfaction  of  mankind. 
One  of  the  conclusions,  is,  of 
course,  that  we  are  dealing  not  with 
a  perfect  instrument  beyond  the 
need  of  amendment  or  improve- 
ment, and  the  question  is,  how 
can  business  render  service  so  as 
to  re-establish  itself  in  the  con- 
fidence of  mankind?  How  can  it, 
asks  the  believer  in  innumerable 
revolutionary  ideas,  in  view  of  the 
fact  that  business  men  are  mere 
money  grabbers  working  for  profits  ? 

This  has  given  rise  to  the  sug- 
gestion made  by  those  who  regard 
the  present  system  of  profit  taking 
as  pernicious  that  capital  should 
be  accumulated  by  the  state  or  by 
an  entire  industry  acting  as  a  unit, 
thus  doing  away  with  private  or 
individual  profits.  This  socialistic 
idea  that  industry  is  somehow  an 
automatic  machine  that  goes  of 
itself  by  the  mere  pressure  of  a 
button  is  contrary  to  the  facts 
and  has  proven  disastrous  when 


ever  it  has  been  tried.  The  Equal- 
ity League  in  North  Dakota  is  a 
recent  example  of  the  try-out 
and  failure  of  this  idea.  You  can 
write  a  scheme  on  paper  to  make 
either  men  or  machines  work  on 
indefinitely  purely  as  automatons, 
but  no  system  can  be  taken  and 
held  rigidly  to  a  certain  line  of 
endeavor  and  in  that  way  made  to 
supply  human  needs.  Just  as  long 
as  population  increases  and  wants 
and  desires  of  men  grow,  indus- 
trial processes  will  remain  any- 
thing but  constant  and  dependable. 
It  is  a  wrong  idea  to  really  imagine 
that  our  industrial  leaders  are 
interested  only  in  making  profits. 
My  own  observation  is  that  all 
manufacturers  and  all  merchants 
who  are  the  leaders  to-day  are 
concerned  with  the  types  of  in- 
dustry they  build  up,  with  the  kind 
of  reputations  they  are  able  to 
construct,  no  less  than  the  money 
they  make  out  of  it.  Many  people 
who  sell  out  and  retire  from  active 
affairs  are  still  jealous  of  the  good 
name  and  reputation  of  their 
former  concern.  I  illustrate  this 
by  saying  that  Mr.  William  Jen- 
nings Bryan  makes  speeches  and  I 
write  letters.  He  is  jealous  of  his 
reputation  for  eloquent  speech - 
making,  I  for  the  reputation  of 
my  articles.  The  business  man's 
reputation  must  be  built  upon  the 
good  name  of  his  business  and 
upon  his  breadth  of  judgment  as 
well  as  his  generosity  in  the  com- 
munity in  which  he  lives.  To-day 
there  is  a  broader  viewpoint  among 
successful  merchants  everywhere 
and  sensitiveness  to  the  interests 
of  the  other  fellow  and  the  appre- 
ciation of  the  value  of  good- will 
as  a  business  asset.  The  selfish 
motive  is  found  to  coincide  with 
the  profit  motive,  that  is,  certain 
policies  such  as  one  price,  welfare 


63 


CO-OPERATIVE  CO-OPERATION 


work,  money  back  if  not  satisfied, 
profit  sharing,  etc.,  are  all  growing 
and  being  recognized  by  the  pro- 
gressive people  everywhere  in  the 
world  interested  in  trade. 

The  salesman  tries  to  make  more 
sales,  and  has  a  selfishness  in  so 
doing  that  is  purely  his  own. 
Men  will  serve  others  as  long  as 
they  know  that  in  so  doing  they 
are  serving  first  themselves;  yet 
service  to  the  community  comes 
through  their  efforts  to  satisfy 
some  of  their  desires.  The  one 
fact  that  stands  out  very  clearly 
to  us  all  is  the  importance  of  in- 
dividualism. This  is  what  we 
must  recognize  in  order  to  reform 
or  get  back  to  a  normal  basis. 
When  I  left  my  home  this  morn- 
ing, I  said  to  myself,  "One  of  the 
most  expensive  items  in  operating 
a  large  retail  store  is  the  time  of 
the  clerks  taken  up  by  customers 
in  merely  looking  over  the  goods 
on  sale."  Much  of  this  is  neces- 
sary, of  course,  but  a  large  amount 
of  time  could  be  saved  if  customers 
were  always  sure  of  an  article 
being  precisely  as  represented. 
The  idea  in  simple  language  of 
course  is  to  raise  the  standard  to  a 
point  where  the  clerk  will  be 
trained  to  say,  "Yes,  it  looks 
something  like  linen,  but  it  is 
mostly  cotton."  The  truth  told  in 
the  store  by  the  clerk  to  the  con- 
sumer would  establish  confidence 
and  help  diminish  the  returned 
goods  evil. 

I  recently  clipped  out  of  various 
newspapers  and  magazines  three 
advertisements,  one  of  a  chain  of 
grocery  stores,  the  second  of  a 
lumber  company,  and  the  third 
of  a  motor  car  manufacturer.  The 
chain  store  was  advertising  in  con- 
nection with  its  80th  anniversary, 
and  the  statement  was  made  that 
the  earnest  desire  of  the  concern  is 


the  same  as  that  of  its  founder, 
"to  serve  the  people  of  the  city  to 
the  best  of  human  ability  within 
its  chosen  field . ' '  The  lumber  com- 
pany advertised  that  an  industry 
is  no  stronger  than  its  service  to 
the  people.  The  automobile  com- 
pany headed  its  advertisement, 
"He  profits  most  who  covets  profits 
least." 

The  point  here  is  that  any  in- 
dustrial enterprise  can  choose  be- 
tween being  a  mere  business  and  a 
business  institution.  Business  can 
be  started  in  a  day,  but  a  business 
institution  should  command  the 
noblest  endeavors  of  a  lifetime. 
The  most  precious  asset  that  can 
accrue  to  any  business  institution 
is  the  pleasant  thoughts  which 
people  think  about  it,  namely, 
that  individualism  or  a  spirit  has 
been  added  to  the  body  and  mere 
business  has  become  a  business 
institution  in  the  community. 

The  Board  of  Directors  of  a 
large  western  department  store 
recently  passed  a  resolution  out- 
lining the  duties  and  functions  of 
the  different  people  in  the  estab- 
lishment and  explained  their  own 
function  as  follows: 

"Our  task  is  not  to  sweep  floors, 
to  wash  windows,  to  keep  books, 
to  fill  orders,  to  sell  goods.  That 
is  the  business  of  our  employes. 
It  is  not  enough  if  we  be  bosses  on 
the  job  and  mere  task  masters. 
We  must  constructively  contribute 
to  the  symphony  by  supplying 
ideals,  by  devising  processes,  im- 
proving methods,  inventing  equip- 
ment, lending  hand,  heart  and 
mind  if  we  would  earn  that  portion 
of  the  income  called  not  'wages' 
but  'profits.'  ' 

A  manufacturer  recently  stated 
to  me  that  in  his  judgment  "in- 
dustrial democracy"  implies  al- 
truism and  not  in  one  million  years 


64 


CO-OPERATIVE     CO-OPERA T I O  N 


will  altruism  take  the  place  of 
self-interest.  Of  course,  that  is 
not  the  question,  and  of  course 
altruism  will  not  take  the  place  of 
self-interest,  but  it  will  develop 
in  various  ways  just  as  self-interest 
will  continue  to  develop.  The  two 
motives  are  instinctive  or  human 
and  must  grow  and  function  to- 
gether. 

It  is  a  recognition  of  these  facts 
on  which  I  believe  co-operative 
co-operation  must  be  built.  Those 
who  have  shared  profits  with  their 
customers  and  with  their  em- 
ployes do  not  go  back  to  the  old 
idea.  The  excellency  of  their  good 
will  and  of  their  unity  of  strength 
is  the  sign  that  human  nature  is 
ready  for  considerable  advances 
toward  an  organization  of  any 
industry  and  a  plan  that  is  not 
wholly  without  consideration  for 
the  individual.  The  personal  or 
human  equation  shows  itself  in 
trade  everywhere  and  it  is  this 
factor  that  merchants,  who  have 


for  years  used  the  "S.&H."  system 
of  giving  discounts  for  cash  trade 
or  sharing  profits  with  their  cus- 
tomers, have  appreciated.  It  is 
this  tie  that  binds  the  human 
family  together — the  spirit  that 
lies  deep  down  in  human  nature. 
It  is  this  fact  that  is  bringing  us 
new  accounts  each  year  and  which 
as  a  matter  of  service  for  any  mer- 
chandising proposition  cannot  be 
surpassed  as  a  part  of  a  perma- 
nent policy  of  a  progressive  store 
that  fits  the  times.  Co-operation 
of  nations  won  the  war  and  only 
co-operation  of  nations  will  keep 
us  out  of  war  in  the  future.  It  is 
the  big  thought  to-day  applied  to 
business  that  will  solve  our  indus- 
trial problems  one  by  one.  If  you 
have  never  tried  it  as  a  merchant 
the  time  has  arrived  for  you  to  do 
so  and  we  are  organized  and  ready 
to  serve  you.  Co-operate  with 
your  cash  customers  through  the 
Sperry  Discount  Service. 


THE  REASONS   WHY! 


HERE  is  the  answer  for  the 
existence    of    the    Service 
supplied    for    twenty-five 
years  to  thousands  of  retail  mer- 
chants by  The  Sperry  &  Hutchin- 
son    Company.     In    parallel    col- 
umns I  give  you  a  synopsis  of  what 
merchants  say  who  have  used  the 
system    and    what    his    customer 
likewise  says: — 

MERCHANT 

"Volume  counts.  It  may  mean 
less  gross  profit,  but  prevents  a 
reduction  in  net  profits." 

"Your  stamp  service  increases 
my  cash  trade." 

"Cash  sales  enable  me  to  dis- 
count my  bills  and  buy  to  greater 
advantage." 

"They  reduce  my  bookkeeping 
expense." 

"They  reduce  credit  and  mini- 
mize my  losses  from  slow  or  bad 
accounts." 

"They  popularize  my  store  and 
induce  the  customer  to  think  of 
me  first  when  in  need  of  anything." 

"They  attract  trade  and  build 
up  my  good- will." 

"I  realize  a  cash  buyer  is  no- 
body's customer  without  some  ex- 
tra inducement." 

"They  represent  dealer-consumer 
co-operation." 

"They  are  a  great  advertising 
medium.  75%  of  our  trade  ask 
for  them." 

"I  sell  my  goods  as  reasonably  as 
my  competitors  and  consider  the 
S.&H.  Service  a  profitable  invest- 
ment, as  my  trade  shows  a  yearly 
increase." 


"Helps  me  to  move  my  stock 
quickly  and  profitably." 

"Although  silent  and  small,  they 
are  salesmen  that  sell  'BIG.'  ' 

"We  give  our  customers  stamps 
instead  of  having  them  ask  for 
them.  They  go  away  smiling." 

"They  increase  business  on  the 
soundest  basis — sales  for  cash." 

"They  are  an  effective  medium 
for  reaching  all  classes  of  buyers." 

"They  have  served  the  public 
since  1896  and  are  well  known. 
The  system  is  national." 

"My  delivery  costs  are  reduced 
when  they  buy  all  from  me." 

"They  make  old  customers  regu- 
lar ones  and  make  new  customers 
feel  I  want  their  trade." 

"Stamps   bring   repeat   orders." 

"They  are  not  an  expense.  I 
get  the  cash  sale  before  I  give  the 
discount.  I  share  profits." 

"Stamps  eliminate  to  a  certain 
extent  necessity  for  cut  prices." 

"They  are  an  inducement  to 
trade  with  me  that  my  competitor 
does  not  have." 

"Because  I  have  observed  they 
draw  customers  to  my  store  past 
my  neighbor's  door." 

"Because  they  are  backed  by  a 
Company  financially  strong  and 
honorable  in  its  dealings." 

"Stamps  make  my  store  'busy' 
and  that  makes  people  talk." 

"Your  service  is  much  better 
than  it  used  to  be  and  I  have  no 
idea  of  giving  them  up.  They  are 
ethically  correct." 

CUSTOMER 
"I  trade  for  cash  because  I  get  a 


THE     R  E  A  S  O  N  S     WHY! 


discount,  which  brings  me  cash  or 
standard  merchandise." 

"I  save  stamps  because  they 
reduce  household  expenses  and 
help  to  furnish  the  home." 

"They  teach  thrift — 'a  penny 
saved  is  a  penny  earned' — to  be 
consistently  thrifty  we  must  fore- 
go nothing,  interest,  discount,  re- 
duced prices,  stamps,  etc." 

"They  offer  a  real  inducement 
in  these  days  of  H.  C.  of  L.  and 
help  me  get  articles  I  could  not 
otherwise  afford." 

"They  pay  me  3%  interest  on 
what  I  spend.  It  is  a  way  of 
saving  without  putting  aside 
money." 

"It  takes  only  a  short  time  to 
fill  a  book." 

"I  am  purchasing  the  same  thing 
at  the  same  price,  plus  the  stamps. 
With  stamps  I  can  get  useful  and 
ornamental  articles  without  ad- 
ditional outlay  of  money." 

"Every  day  is  bargain  day  when 
you  trade  and  get  stamps. 
Women  like  'bargains.'  ' 

"The  saving  is  automatic  and 
easy.  I  can  redeem  my  book  in 
almost  any  city." 

"They  encourage  thrift- — the 
economic  need  of  the  times." 

"Many  of  the  best  merchants 
use  them.  They  get  all  of  my 
trade." 

"I  want  as  much  for  my  money 
as  I  can  get,  therefore  I  buy  where 
they  give  stamps." 

"The  articles  I  get  are  of  good 
quality,  satisfactory  and  useful." 

"It  is  as  much  pleasure  to  paste 
the  stamps  in  my  books  as  it  is 
to  see  my  bank  account  grow." 

"Other  stamps  have  come  and 
gone,  but  'S.&H.'  Stamps  go  on 
and  on.  My  mother  used  to  col- 
lect them." 


"The  merchant  receives  a  dis- 
count for  cash,  why  shouldn't  I?" 

"They  are  the  same  stamps  used 
by  merchants  in  other  lines,  and 
by  trading  there  I  get  a  substantial 
discount  on  all  my  purchases  and 
fill  my  book  quickly." 

"I  get  value  plus  value.  Like  a 
prohibition  drink,  I  have  no  kick 
in  me." 

"We  pay  the  same  price  at  Jno. 
Smith's  for  soap,  etc.,  as  at 
Brown's.  Why  not  trade  at 
Brown's  and  get  my  stamps,  as 
well  as  the  soap." 

"The  merchant's  co-operation 
appeals  to  me  and  I  tell  my  friends." 

"I  trade  at  drug  stores,  shoe 
stores,  groceries  and  department 
stores  that  give  stamps.  On  an 
expenditure  of  $1,000  I  save  $30." 

"It  is  an  invisible  yet  a  tangible 
saving." 

The  merchant  recognizes  this 
is  the  age  of  salesmanship.  The 
evidence  is  page  after  page  of 
newspaper  advertising.  If  the  real 
function  of  advertising  is  to  create 
a  consumer  desire — to  sell  things — 
then  I  have  proven  my  case  by 
the  above  testimonials  of  the 
virtue  of  the  "S.&H."  Service, 
the  use  of  the  Trading  Stamp  as  a 
cash  trade  builder  and  to  keep 
sales  repeating.  I  know  you  can- 
not get  along  without  the  news- 
paper, but  they  do  not  and  cannot 
insure  you  cash  trade  or  a  sale  for 
your  money  spent.  Trading 
Stamps  given  as  a  discount  for 
cash  trade  do  this  and  are  neither 
a  substitute  for  or  in  any  way 
take  their  place.  It  is  a  different 
service,  equally  as  effective,  and 
as  much  appreciated  by  the  cus- 
tomer. You  should  use  both  to 
get  the  best  results. 


67 


THE    "S.&H.'     COMPANY'S    DISCOUNT 

SERVICE 


THESE  are  times  when  busi- 
ness practices  and  even  poli- 
cies are  changing  almost  "over 
night."  It  is  more  essential  than 
ever  that  the  merchant  who  hopes 
to  survive  have  consumer  co-opera- 
tion, and  not  so  much  on  a  credit 
basis  as  on  a  cash  basis.  The  mer- 
chant cannot  forget  his  own  selfish 
interest.  He  cannot  if  he  would; 
otherwise  his  competitor  gets  him. 
Nor  can  the  merchant  overlook  the 
fact  that  while  quality  and  prices 
are  always  important  factors  to 
consumers  there  is  a  psychology 
that  governs  the  affairs  of  human- 
ity en  masse  and  that  likewise  gov- 
erns the  affairs  of  the  individual. 
The  best  advertising  manager  to- 
day is  the  one  who  can  apply  psy- 
chology to  his  advertising  and  draw 
trade.  Frequently  store  service  or 
location  is  not  as  good  or  the  qual- 
ity of  goods  or  prices  no  better,  if 
as  good,  as  his  competitor,  but  his 
advts.  have  a  "pulling  power." 
They  have  an  appeal  that  attracts, 
holds  and  draws,  creates  consumer 
desire,  and  for  it  every  merchant 
willingly  pays  the  price, — 100% 
more  than  in  1915-16. 

The  average  merchant  is  not  a 
good  advertising  writer.  He  lacks 
vision.  He  is  practical,  materialis- 
tic, sometimes  without  psychologi- 
cal thought  or  feeling.  As  a  prac- 
tical merchant  he  has  a  knowledge 
from  counting  the  cash  at  night  of 
the  value  of  cash  trade,  of  con- 
sumer-co-operation, of  a  something 
to  draw  trade  to  his  store  that  the 


other  fellow  does  not  have.  It  is 
here  that  the  Trading  Stamp  can 
justify  its  usefulness.  It  is  also 
practical.  It  is  not  issued  until 
the  purchase  has  been  made  and  is 
paid  for.  The  Trading  Stamp  is  not 
and  never  was  publicity  advertising; 
it  is  now  and  always  was  a  discount 
for  cash  trade.  The  Trading  Stamp 
brings  consumer-co-operation  and 
cash  trade.  It  organizes  the  buy- 
ers of  your  city — centralizes  their 
purchases  where  the  discount  is 
given,  and  this  makes  practical 
consumer-co-operation.  It  builds 
good-will  and  insures  future  sales 
because  the  buyer  is  getting  with  a 
filled  stamp  book  something  she 
can  use.  The  Trading  Stamp  is 
the  silent  salesman  that  automat- 
ically ties  up  vision,  psychology  and 
practicability  at  a  cost  to  the  mer- 
chant so  reasonable  that  even  econ- 
omy stores  can  afford  it. 

Please,  Mr.  Merchant,  do  not 
confuse  the  Trading  Stamp  with 
the  coupon.  They  occupy  two 
separate  and  distinct  lines  of  pro- 
moting sales,  serve  each  differently 
and  are  similar  only  in  the  matter 
of  having  a  value  to  the  consumer, 
which  also  varies.  The  coupon  is 
of  little  value  to  the  retail  trade 
because  it  is  a  manufacturer's  prop- 
osition. The  Trading  Stamp  is  of 
small  use  to  the  manufacturer  and 
of  much  benefit  to  the  retail  trade 
that  has  used  it  now  about  twenty- 
five  years.  Neither  are  of  use  in 
promoting  sales  unless  they  are  ad- 
vertised— pushed  by  the  merchant, 


68 


THE     "S.&H."     COMPANY'S    DISCOUNT    SERVICE 


and  easily  redeemed.  The  Sperry 
&  Hutchinson  Company  is  redeem- 
ing its  stamps  of  late  years  at  95% 
of  the  total  issue,  which  shows  the 
buying  public  has  not  lost  interest 
in  the  "S.&H."  Stamp,  and  also 
proves  high  returns  on-  money  in- 
vested in  "S.&H."  Stamp  Service 
by  merchants.  Merchants  cannot 
buy  any  other  service  and  get  in 
return  95%  efficiency.  I  have 
from  time  to  time  listened  to  opin- 
ions against  stamps.  One  was  that 
they  were  going  out  of  business. 
Quite  the  reverse  is  actually  the 
truth.  Certain  stores,  particularly 
in  the  east,  could  not  renew  their 
contracts  at  low  prices;  some  dis- 
continued the  service  altogether; 
others  who  were  giving  stamps  too 
freely  and  voiding  their  contract 
were  cancelled.  The  stamp  busi- 
ness so  far  as  The  Sperry  &  Hut- 
chinson Company  is  concerned  was 
thus  purged  of  its  many  evils  and 
lifted  to  a  new  plane — one  of  digni- 
fied service,  with  one  price  for  all. 
It  is  sometimes  said  the  most 
successful  stores  do  not  give  stamps. 
This  again  is  a  statement  wholly 
untrue.  Here  is  a  partial  list  of 
what  I  call  successful  department 
stores  that  use  a  stamp  service: 

Rothschild  &  Company,  Chicago,  Illinois. 

The  Boston  Store,  Milwaukee,  Wisconsin. 

The  Emporium,  St.  Paul,  Minnesota. 

Olds,  Wortman  &  King,  Portland,  Oregon. 

Houghton  &  Button  Co.,  Boston,  Massachu- 
setts. 

Hens  &  Kelly  Company,  Buffalo,  New  York. 

Adams,  Flanigan  Company,  New  York  City. 

May  Company,  Cleveland,  Ohio. 

Palace  Department  Store,  Spokane,  Wash- 
ington. 

McCormack  Brothers,  Tacoma,  Washington. 

Fifth  Street  Store,  Los  Angeles,  California. 

A.  Hart  &  Co.,  San  Jose,  California. 

Levy  Brothers,  Stockton,  California. 

Wurzburg  Dept.  Store,  Grand  Rapids,  Mich. 

Elliott,  Taylor,  Woolfenden  Co.,  Detroit, 
Mich. 

Kaufman  &  Baer  Dept.  Store,  Pittsburgh, 
Pa. 


Litt  Brothers,  Philadelphia,  Pennsylvania. 

Rorabaugh- Brown  Co.,  Oklahoma  City,  Okla. 

Monnig  Department  Store,  Fort  Worth, 
Texas. 

John  Diskon,  Paterson,  New  Jersey. 

J.  W.  Knapp  &  Co.,  Lansing,  Michigan. 

L.  Dimond  Dept.  Store,  Providence,  R.  1. 

A.  &  P.  Company,  New  York. 

Goldenberg  &  Company,  Baltimore,  Mary- 
land. 

Hagen  &  Wagner,  Scranton,  Pennsylvania. 

Zollnger,  Harnard  Co.,  Allentown,  Pa. 

Leinbach  &  Company,  York,  Pennsylvania. 

Baer  &  Company,  Lancaster,  Pennsylvania. 

Klein  Brothers,  Lincoln,  Nebraska. 

John  Boesch  &  Company,  Burlington,  Iowa. 

A.  Franchere  &  Co.,  Cedar  Rapids,  Iowa. 

Wieboldt  &  Company,  Chicago,  Illinois. 

Becker-Ryan  &  Co.,  Chicago,  Illinois. 

Adams,  Meldrum  &  Anderson  Co.,  Buffalo, 
N.  Y. 

H.  A.  Meldrum  Co.,  Buffalo,  New  York. 

New  England  Furniture  &  Carpet  Co.,  Min- 
neapolis, Minnesota. 

Timothy  Department  Store,  Nashville,  Tenn. 

Besides  the  above  long-time  users 
of  stamps  we  do  business  with 
twenty-five  thousand  (25,000)  pro- 
gressive, red-blooded,  forward-look- 
ing merchants  in  many  different 
lines  in  the  United  States,  operating 
in  some  eighteen  hundred  different 
cities,  and  we  are  opening  new 
towns  every  month.  The  "S.&H." 
Stamp  Service  is  also  appreciated 
by  over  ten  million  thrifty  Ameri- 
can housewives.  When  properly 
used  with  full  co-operation  of  the 
merchant,  it  always  makes  good. 
This  is  because  the  law  of  service 
is  to  all  human  relationships  includ- 
ing commercial,  industrial  or  pro- 
fessional, exactly  what  the  law  of 
gravity  is  to  all  material  bodies — 
fixed  and  unchangeable.  The  mer- 
chant who  serves  his  customers  best 
will  always  have  the  popular  store 
and  the  leading  trade;  the  mer- 
chant who  uses  the  "S.&H."  Com- 
pany's Service  as  a  discount  for 
cash  trade  adds  to  his  service  and 
gets  the  big  end  of  the  cash  trade  of 
his  city.  The  "S.&H."  Company 
stamps  are  a  substantial  discount— 


THE     "S.&H."     COMPANY'S     DISCOUNT    SERVICE 

easily  redeemed — good  anywhere  tinue  to  stay.  Why  not  give  your 
in  the  United  States,  and  appreci-  trade  a  Discount  as  an  appreciation 
ated  by  the  well-to-do  equally  with  of  their  loyalty  and  good- will.  Why 
the  wage-earning  class.  Both  have  not,  when  the  "S.&H."  Co.'s  Serv- 
cash  to  spend,  and  this  is  the  trade  ice  is  a  real  asset  and  not  an  ex- 
our  Discount  Stamp  Service  will  pense  account?  "S.&H."  Trading- 
help  you  to  get  and  to  hold.  De-  Stamps  are  a  salesmanship  of  a 
creased  volume  and  decreased  prof-  very  economic  type, 
its  are  here  already  and  will  con- 


70 


WHAT  ARE  THE  FACTS? 


|HE  merchant  using  stamps  in- 
variably replies  to  my  ques- 
tion, "Is  trade  up  to  last 
year?"  "No!  About  10%  less  for 
March  and  20%  less  for  the  first 
three  months  of  this  year."  "How 
are  your  profits?"  "Don't  expect 
to  make  any  money  this  year." 
The  merchant  not  using  stamps 
and  who  is  a  prospect  replies  his 
trade  is  equal  to  last  year  or  better. 
The  first  merchant  is  doing  business 
with  me  and  tells  me  the  truth. 
Why  does  the  latter,  who  is  suffer- 
ing from  the  same  causes  and  can- 
not possibly  be  doing  as  well,  at- 
tempt to  deceive  you  and  me?  An 
increase  of  business  this  year  is  not 
possible,  and  an  increase  of  profits 
from  any  month's  operation  that 
shows  a  lessened  sales  volume  is  a 
sort  of  business  miracle.  Only  can 
any  sales  volume  grow  or  any  corn- 
field grow  by  expenditure  in  labor 
and  material  and  now  is  the  time 
for  this  investment. 

Every  one  admits  sales  income  is 
dropping  because  of  reduced  prices 
first,  and  second  because  of  a  lim- 
ited demand.  The  people  are  no 
longer  buying  extravagantly.  Ev- 
ery line  of  business  is  affected  and 
declining  in  volume.  Of  course  it 
requires  a  better  organization  to 
promote  sales  now  than  it  did  one 
year  or  two  years  ago.  It  also  re- 
quires more  courage  to  spend — to 
meet  hard  times  and  competition 
and  wait  for  returns.  The  abnor- 
mal conditions  due  to  a  great  war 
made  merchants  happy  and  life 
easy  so  far  as  selling.  It  made  liars 
out  of  those  merchants  who  are  tell- 


ing you  and  me  that  sales  are  up 
or  that  they  are  making  as  much 
money  as  ever.  In  both  state- 
ments the  reverse  is  true  and  the 
end  is  not  in  sight.  In  the  pride  of 
showing  a  great  and  wholesome 
level  in  both  gross  and  net  there 
can  be  but  one  way — spend  more, 
either  in  physical  effort  or  adver- 
tising. 

On  a  recent  trip  through  west 
coast  cities  I  saw  shirt  sale  after 
shirt  sale,  $10.00  and  $12.00  shirts 
at  prices  two  years  ago  offered  at 
$2.98  and  only  small  sales  at  that 
price.  In  that  line  neither  adver- 
tising nor  cut  prices  moved  the 
merchandise.  It  is  quite  common 
to  hear  merchants  when  conducting 
a  post-mortem  express  a  conviction 
that  prices  must  again  advance 
materially  if  prosperity  is  to  re- 
turn, yet  they  admit  the  public  is 
not  buying  because  it  knows  prices 
are  high  and  will  yet  come  down. 
In  my  opinion  the  merchant  is 
wrong  and  the  public  is  right. 
Wait  and  watch,  yet  what  is  better 
adjust  yourself  to  the  new  condi- 
tion, lower  prices  are  yet  to  go 
lower,  and  a  slow  turnover  because 
of  the  public's  lack  of  confidence 
on  a  declining  market.  Stop  mak- 
ing your  comparisons  with  1920,— 
that  year  has  passed  never  to  re- 
turn. It  was  abnormal.  Try  com- 
parisons with  1916, — it  is  more 
helpful  and  you  will  not  be  so  dis- 
couraged. Your  sales  will  at  least 
compare  more  favorably  though 
your  expense  account  may  yet  be 
excessive  and  will  be  until  rents, 
interest,  transportation  and  labor 


71 


WHAT    ARE  'THE    FACTS? 


are  adjusted  and  in  harmony  with 
wheat,  corn,  cotton,  cattle,  copper, 
etc. 

If  you  feel  or  think  your  business 
is  peculiar  or  different  and  that  you 
are  to  be  the  exception,  you  are 
mistaken;  you  will  not  advertise  or 
buy  "S.&H."  Service  or  spend  any 
money  because  you  pay  other  peo- 
ple money  you  think  you  can  save. 
Try  the  reverse  of  this  policy — add 
to  your  service  the  "S.&H."  dis- 


count for  cash  trade  and  succeed. 
The  "S.&H."  Green  Stamp  Service 
produces  turnover  and  increases 
your  profits  on  the  smallest  capital. 
It  checks  competition,  it  holds  and 
builds  good-will,  it  is  not  an  expense 
but  an  asset.  The  stamp  does  not 
leave  your  hands  until  you  have 
made  a  sale.  What  advertising  is 
more  direct — more  effective?  Sales 
volume  and  Green  Trading  Stamps 
are  synonymous. 


HOW   TO   USE   "S.&H."  GREEN   STAMPS 


"S.&H."  Green  Trading 
Stamp  is  one  and  only  one 
part  of  our  Discount  Service. 
The  "GREEN  TRADING 
STAMP"  is  the  token  of  value.  It 
has  been  this  from  its  birth,  twenty- 
five  years  ago.  The  Discount  Serv- 
ice, of  which  this  Stamp  is  a  part,  is 
a  contract  service  covering  several 
things  including  the  stamp  used  by 
the  merchant  who  issues  the  same 
to  his  over-the-counter  cash  trade, 
— one  Stamp  being  given  with  each 
ten  cent  purchase. 

This  Green  Trading  Stamp  Serv- 
ice has  many  imitators,  yet  for 
twenty-five  years  the  "S.&H." 
Green  Trading  Stamp  has  had  the 
lead  and  does  business  to-day  in 
thirty-five  states  of  the  union  and 
stands  for  the  same  value  in  its  re- 
lation to  the  dollar  in  trade  that  it 
has  always  done. 

The  issue  by  the  Company  of  the 
stamp  in  convenient  form  with 
books  in  which  they  shall  be  pasted 
is  the  first  step  in  the  Service;  the 
forming  of  an  organization  of  mer- 
chants in  any  of  our  two  thousand 
cities  in  which  we  do  business,  who 
will  use  this  Service,  is  the  second 
step  in  the  Service  that  is  rendered ; 
and  the  redemption  of  the  Stamps 
when  issued  by  these  merchants 
and  collected  in  filled  books  and 
presented  to  us  is  the  third  step 
in  the  Service  performed  by  The 
Sperry  &  Hutchinson  Company. 
This  redemption  of  these  Stamps  is 
of  the  highest  importance  to  the 
merchants,  because  they  are  issued 
by  him  to  his  trade  and  are  re- 
deemed by  us  either  in  cash  or 


merchandise.  The  Sperry  &  Hut- 
chinson Company,  therefore,  has  to 
furnish  the  cash  or  buy  the  mer- 
chandise, which  is  the  same  thing, 
and  maintain  a  redemption  station, 
pay  for  store  space,  clerks,  cartage, 
insurance,  taxes,  etc. 

There  is  also  a  minor  service 
rendered  which  sometimes  becomes 
a  major  service  insofar  as  the  mer- 
chant is  concerned.  The  Sperry  & 
Hutchinson  Company  furnishes 
either  advertising  or  canvassing  in 
such  towns  where  they  have  an  or- 
ganization, and  at  their  own  ex- 
pense, realizing  that  to  co-operate 
and  bring  together  the  merchant 
and  the  customer  can  only  be  done 
by  giving  satisfaction  to  both, 
which  builds  good- will  for  the  mer- 
chant as  well  as  for  the  S.  &.  H. 
Company.  The  satisfied  customer 
in  our  store  returns  to  the  merchant 
from  whom  she  received  stamps, 
continues  to  pay  him  cash  for  the 
purpose  of  obtaining  a  discount, 
and  does  this  day  in  and  day  out. 
Not  only  does  she  fill  one  book,  but 
many  books,  for  we  have  frequently 
had  ten  or  twenty  books  presented 
at  one  time  by  one  person  for  re- 
demption. This  is  the  "tie  that 
binds"  not  for  one  day,  but  for 
every  day  a  customer  has  expendi- 
tures to  make  and  cash  with  which 
to  trade. 

B.C.  Forbes,  financier  and  editor 
of  world-wide  reputation,  says, 
''The  problem  of  raising  capital  is 
to  become  more  difficult  instead  of 
less  difficult.  The  old  world  is 
hungry  for  capital.  Money  is  high 
to-day  and  will  stay  high."  Mer- 


73 


HOW    TO    USE     "S.&H."     GREEN    TRADING    STAMPS 


chants  who  are  doing  business  on  a 
credit  basis  and  are  forced  to  bor- 
row money  realize  the  truth  of  Mr. 
Forbes'  statement.  Cash  on  hand 
not  only  saves  book  accounts  and 
bookkeeping,  loss  from  credits,  and 
borrowing  at  your  bank  when 
money  is  high,  but  helps  keep  retail 
trade  on  a  cash  basis.  It  has  been 
adopted  by  many  merchants  and 
found  to  be  most  advantageous  as 
well  as  most  satisfactory  in  the 
education  of  the  consumer. 

Naturally  enough,  the  success  of 
a  Stamp  Service  in  any  store  has 
to  do  with  the  creation  of  "con- 
sumer desire"  for  the  discount  such 
service  represents.  In  a  company 
that  has  had  business  in  over  two 
thousand  cities  of  the  United  States 
for  twenty-five  years,  "consumer 
desire"  is  pretty  well  established, 
and  the  "S.&H."  Green  Trading 
Stamp  is  known  in  nearly  every 
household  from  Coast  to  Coast. 
Yet  it  should  always  be  borne  in 
mind  by  a  merchant  contemplating 
the  use  of  our  Stamp  Service  that 
he  is  the  one  who  really  creates  the 
consumer  desire.  He  creates  it  for 
any  service  in  any  line — free  and 
prompt  delivery  service,  for  in- 
stance, has  its  value.  It  is  paid  for 
by  the  merchant  and  given  to  the 
person  who  trades  at  his  store. 
That  it  is  appreciated  by  the  public 
is  proven  by  the  fact  that  all  cam- 
paigns instituted  for  the  purpose  of 
discontinuing  the  delivery  service 
have  failed.  That  the  "S.&H." 
Green  Trading  Stamp  is  appreci- 
ated is  proven  by  the  fact  that  95% 
of  the  stamps  issued  are  to-day  re- 
deemed, and  in  some  years  the  per- 
centage is  even  higher.  Redemp- 
tions would  not  take  place  if  the 
consuming  public  did  not  have  a 
desire  for  this  service,  was  not  will- 
ing to  accumulate  the  stamps  and 
take  them  to  one  of  the  many  re- 


demption stations  that  the  S.&H. 
Company  maintain  for  final  con- 
version. I  have  watched  these  re- 
demptions in  many  stores,  many 
times.  I  have  seen  a  line  similar 
to  the  line  before  a  paying  teller's 
window  in  a  bank.  I  have  seen 
runs  where  a  thousand  or  more 
customers  were  fearful  they  were 
not  going  to  get  the  value  of  their 
book  before  the  Company  closed 
operations  in  that  particular  city. 

All  of  this  shows  "CONSUMER 
DESIRE,"  which  is,  it  seems  to  me, 
the  one  thing  that  the  merchant 
of  to-day  is  seeking  and  is  willing 
to  pay  for.  At  the  price  at  which 
the  "S.&H."  Service  is  sold,  there 
is  nothing  more  effective,  in  my 
judgment,  that  is  not  prohibitive 
as  to  cost.  Taking  the  figures  of 
many  merchants,  I  find  in  many  in- 
stances it  costs  them  more  for  store 
window  displays  than  it  does  for 
their  stamp  service. 

This  leads  me  to  say  something 
important  to  every  merchant  using 
or  contemplating  the  use  of  the 
"S.&H."  Service.  When  you  have 
contracted  for  our  Service,  do  not 
hide  your  light  under  a  bushel. 
You  desire  to  have  the  full  benefits 
of  it.  You  cannot  possibly  get 
these  benefits  unless  you  give  the 
stamps  freely  to  your  customers 
and  create,  yourself,  the  "CON- 
SUMER DESIRE"  that  will  bring 
not  only  good-will  because  of  the 
discount  on  what  has  been  pur- 
chased, but  continue  to  bring  trade 
to  your  store.  The  merchant  who 
gives  Stamps  to  his  customers 
whether  they  ask  for  them  or  not, 
versus  the  merchant  who  gives 
them  only  when  asked,  spells  the 
difference  between  the  one  who 
succeeds  and  the  one  who  fails  in 
the  use  of  this  Service. 

After  serving  the  merchants' 
trade  for  twenty-five  years  that 


74 


HOW    TO    USE     "S.&H."     GREEN    TRADING    STAMPS 


fact  has  not  been  removed.  In 
other  words,  it  has  been  intensified, 
and  while  the  Company  has  some- 
where between  7,500,000  and  10,- 
000,000  educated  people  in  the 
United  States  (principally  women, 
of  course)  who  want  stamps  and 
who  gather  them  when  they  are  of- 
fered, there  is  only  a  percentage  of 
them,  perhaps  one-half,  to  be  con- 
servative, that  will  ask  for  them. 
The  other  half,  whose  trade  is  of 
equal  value,  appreciate  the  Stamp 
Service  just  as  much.  In  fact,  in 
the  best  stores  in  the  country  the 
best  people  of  the  town,  the  wives 
of  some  of  the  richest  men  who  buy 
large  bills,  take  their  stamps  and 
redeem  them.  But  until  they  have 
been  given  to  her  by  the  merchant 
in  the  proper  way  after  the  trade 
has  been  made  and  the  cash  paid, 
the  woman  shopper  is  many  times 
unwilling  to  ask  for  them.  This  is 
so  important  an  element  in  the  use 
of  any  stamp  service  that  it  is  ob- 
vious or  should  be  to  all  who  will 
investigate  that  there  is  only  one 
way  to  use  the  service  and  that  is 
to  use  it,  offer  it,  generously,  hon- 
estly and  graciously.  The  mer- 
chant who  does  this  has  never 
failed  in  getting  the  value  of  the 
Stamp  Service  in  his  store.  He 
does  not,  because  he  is  a  competent 
merchant  who  does  not  buy  a  serv- 
ice that  he  cannot  use  or  does  not 
use  after  he  has  bought  it.  Our 
stamp  service  will  work  in  most 
every  store  under  these  conditions. 
I  have  before  me  a  letter  from 
The  Co-Operative  Store  at  DuBois, 
Pa.,  saying  that  the  Green  Trading 
Stamp  increased  their  cash  sales 
more  than  20%  the  first  month  of 
its  use.  This  is  a  new  account, 
but  I  can  recite  many  instances  of 
old  accounts  who  have  been  using 
our  system  ten,  fifteen  or  twenty 
years,  that  can  show  increases  of 


from  10  to  25%.  On  a  volume  of 
trade  of  $100,000,  this  means  from 
$10,000  to  $25,000  in  cash  in  hand 
that  would  otherwise  have  been 
either  lost  to  the  store  entirely  or 
carried  as  a  book  account,  repre- 
senting additional  invested  capital. 

The  first  law  of  merchandising  is 
to  sell;  the  second  law  is  the  re-sale 
to  the  satisfied  customer;  the  third 
law  of  good  merchandising  is  to  get 
your  money  for  what  you  have 
sold.  The  "S.&H."  Green  Trad- 
ing Stamp,  properly  used  in  any 
store,  will  help  solve  these  problems 
to  the  satisfaction  of  any  good  mer- 
chant who  gets  behind  the  service 
with  an  intelligent  understanding, 
and  not  only  himself,  but  who 
teaches  the  use  of  the  service  to  all 
people  employed  in  the  selling  end 
of  his  business.  Overstocks,  so 
prevalent  to-day,  can  be  reduced 
and  converted  into  cash  much  more 
rapidly  by  the  live  merchant  who 
uses  the  discount  service  than  can 
be  done  by  any  method  of  cut  price 
sales.  This  has  been  positively 
proven  by  a  single  merchant  who 
used  the  one  and  then  used  the 
other  and  who  finally  concluded 
from  the  volume  of  trade  and  cash 
on  hand  at  the  close  of  each  day 
over  a  period  of  time  that  the  Dis- 
count Service  furnished  by  The 
Sperry  &  Hutchinson  Company  had 
all  the  advantages. 

The  Telephone  Company  pro- 
motes the  sale  of  its  service  by  say- 
ing that  "every  time  a  person 
phones,  your  business  is  brought  to 
mind."  I  say  that  every  time  a 
person  trades  with  you  and  gets 
the  equivalent  of  a  2j/2%  or  3%, 
discount  offered  over  your  counter 
by  competent  sales  people  you  are 
not  only  brought  to  mind,  but  the 
customer  has  been  made  to  feel  a 
proprietary  interest  in  your  store. 
When  the  book  of  stamps  is  filled 


75 


HOW  TO  USE  "S.&H."  GREEN  TRADING  STAMPS 


and  redeemed  she  is  brought  face 
to  face  with  a  fact  that  again  re- 
minds her  that  to  continue  to  trade 
in  your  store  will  be  to  her  further 
advantage. 

In  this  discussion  I  have  not 
mentioned  the  advertising  value. 
I  can  only  add  in  this  connection 
that  the  women  of  this  country  do 
90%  of  the  shopping  and  spending 
of  money  in  your  stores,  and  it  is 
said  that  a  woman  has  two  view- 
points about  a  secret, — either  it  is 


not  worth  keeping  or  it  is  too  good 
to  keep.  In  our  case  it  is  too  good 
to  keep.  The  woman  who  has  re- 
ceived a  satisfactory  return  in  the 
way  of  a  premium  for  a  filled  book 
of  stamps  is  quite  sure  to  tell  all  of 
her  friends. 

With  the  volume  of  trade  grad- 
ually declining,  and  a  still  further 
decline  in  trade  expected,  now  is 
the  most  opportune  time  for  the 
merchant  to  adopt  and  get  behind 
this  Service. 


70 


THE  THINKING   MERCHANT 


THE  thinking  merchant,  the 
one  who  is  trying  to  solve  his 
present  drop  in  sales,  readjust 
his  business,  do  something  and  not 
drift,  is  interested  in  any  informa- 
tion which  will  be  helpful  in  reviv- 
ing business  and  restoring  general 
prosperity.  The  Bankers'  Maga- 
zine for  May  argues  "Millions  of 
savers  are  needed  to  supply  the 
funds  which  will  hasten  business  re- 
vival and  promote  general  pros- 
perity. America  has  scarcely  be- 
gun to  show  the  world  what  she  can 
accomplish  when  the  whole  people 
co-operate  with  vigorous  determina- 
tion to  be  thrifty,  saving,  and  ac- 
cumulate capital.  Thirty  million 
workers  saving  an  extra  dollar  a 
week  for  three  years  add  $5,000,- 
000,000  to  our  working  capital.  It 
is  doubtful  if  the  capacity  of  the 
American  people  to  save  has  ever 
been  carefully  appraised.  Of  the 
$65,000,000,000  estimated  annual 
income  of  our  people,  probably 
$55,000,000,000  is  paid  by  employ- 
ers as  salaries  and  wages.  The 
Comptroller  of  the  Currency  re- 
cently declared  the  income  of  the 
people  of  the  United  States  in  ex- 
cess of  ordinary  living  expenses 
probably  amounts  to  $10,000,000,- 
000  per  annum.  In  this  connec- 
tion it  is  worth  noting  that  the 
American  people  in  1919  paid  taxes 
on  $22,000,000,000  worth  of  articles 
classified  by  the  revenue  act  as 
luxuries." 

There  is  nothing  more  inspiring 
than  the  awakening  to  the  fact  that 
our  economic  possibilities  as  a  na- 
tion of  savers  are  so  great.  It  must 


be  even  much  more  gratifying  to 
the  merchant  using  the  "S.&H." 
Discount  Service  to  know  he  has 
contributed  his  part  to  the  teaching 
of  thrift  and  reducing  the  living 
expenses  of  his  customers.  In 
other  words,  the  merchants  that  for 
the  past  twenty-five  years  have  is- 
sued Trading  Stamps  to  their  cus- 
tomers have  automatically  added 
$100,000,000  to  their  savings,  have 
built  good-will  for  themselves  and 
increased  the  volume  of  their  busi- 
ness. If  prosperity  depends  upon 
Thrift — and  it  does — the  problem 
then  is  how  to  teach  thrift  and  ap- 
ply it.  We  are  twenty-five  years 
old  with  this  service. 

When  a  merchant  gives  "S.&H." 
Green  Trading  Stamps  for  cash 
trade,  he  is  creating  automatic  sav- 
ings on  one's  expenses.  He  is  not 
only  teaching  but  applying  practi- 
cal Thrift.  The  'Thinking  Mer- 
chant" has  a  vision  justified  by  ex- 
perience of  a  nation  of  industrial 
workers  speedily  recovering  the 
blessings  of  prosperity  and  can  con- 
scientiously feel  and  know  he  has 
played  well  his  part.  The  "Think- 
ing Merchant"  knows  the  present 
demand  for  capital  to  take  the  place 
of  that  destroyed  by  war  is  unprec- 
edented, and  he  also  knows  that 
world  reconstruction,  business  re- 
vival, the  "new  prosperity,"  will  be 
accelerated  and  the  ravages  of  war 
restored  in  proportion  as  all  the 
people  co-operate  toward  this  end. 

The  principal  function  of  a  mer- 
chant is  to  distribute,  to  sell,  in- 
crease his  "turnover"  of  merchan- 
dise. To  the  extent  that  the 


77 


THE    THINKING    MERCHANT 


"S.&H."  System  of  Co-operative 
Discount  or  savings  is  put  to  work 
by  him,  he  is,  by  one  small  act  of 
his,  helping  to  revive  business,  in- 
creasing the  buying  power  of  his 
customers  and  thus  automatically 
increasing  his  own  "turnover"  of 
merchandise.  The  time  has  come 
when  the  people  of  America  intelli- 
gently recognize  the  need  for  econ- 
omy. The  losses  they  have  sus- 
tained, reduced  incomes  and  the 
lessons  of  experience  have  brought 
about  changed  conditions.  The 
"Thinking  Merchant"  has  de- 
creased his  stock — written  off  his 
loss  and  is  on  the  threshold  of 
doubt  about  his  future.  He  re- 
luctantly lets  go  of  the  prosperity  of 
1919  and  fits  his  mind  to  the  busi- 
ness conditions  of  1921.  Why  not 
rebuild  your  stocks  of  merchandise 
at  new  prices,  reorganize  and  in- 
crease your  service,  and  if  not  al- 
ready using  it,  join  with  the  bank- 
ers that  are  willing  to  encourage 


Thrift  by  paying  3%  on  savings, 
by  paying  your  customers  that 
much  for  their  cash  trade.  The 
Sperry  &  Hutchinson  Company 
wants  you  to  realize  the  value  of 
small  savings  through  the  use  of 
its  Service.  It  wants  to  help  make 
your  store  the  "popular"  store  of 
the  town.  It  wants  more  "Think- 
ing Merchants"  to  join  with  it  in 
promoting  practical  Thrift,  in  meet- 
ing a  situation  that  to-day  and  to- 
morrow and  for  years  to  come  will 
not  only  see  the  sale  of  War  Sav- 
ings Stamps  and  Savings  Bank  de- 
posits increase  because  they  fit  the 
people's  small  savings,  but  will  see 
the  "S.&H."  Green  Trading  Stamp 
likewise  more  popular — doing  an 
even  greater  service  for  a  trinity  of 
interests — ourselves,  yourselves  and 
the  consumer.  You  thereby  do  a 
part  of  the  "adjustment"  necessary 
to  fit  the  times  and  are  doing  some- 
thing that  helps  to  create  "new 
prosperity." 


78 


GIVE  THE  PUBLIC  A  CHANCE 


THE  public  is  all  of  us — and 
all  of  us  are  consumers. 
Sometimes  our  consumption 
is  greater  than  at  other  times,  and, 
notwithstanding  the  fluctuations  of 
the  "purse"  there  is  a  very  large 
daily  consumption.  The  hundred 
and  ten  million  people  now  in  the 
United  States  have  never  gone  un- 
clothed, unfed  or  unhoused.  And, 
more  than  all  this,  their  standard  of 
living,  like  their  ideals,  is  very  high. 
The  public  appetite  and  mode  of 
living  have  improved.  Over  pros- 
perity made  extravagance  possible. 
Recent  returns  of  the  Treasury  De- 
partment of  the  luxury  and  kindred 
tax  items  show  that  for  the  fiscal 
year  ending  June  30,  1921,  the 
American  people  spent  five  billion 
dollars  or  over  for  luxuries.  The 
ten  per  cent,  tax  on  luxuries  pro- 
duced more  than  five  hundred  mil- 
lion dollars  on  a  tax  list  which  in- 
cludes only  about  fifteen  items. 
This  of  course  does  not  include  all 
luxuries  nor  all  amusements.  On 
those  that  are  not  taxed  we  have  no 
way  of  knowing  the  amount  which 
has  been  spent,  which  makes  the 
above  extravagance  more  appalling, 
considering  the  economic  depression 
and  unemployment  throughout  the 
country. 

The  Thrift  Division  of  the  Treas- 
ury Department  is  working  directly 
along  lines  to  promote  conserva- 
tion of  cash  by  getting  in  touch 
with  Clubs,  Neighborhood  Im- 
provement Associations,  Women's 
Societies,  Grade  Schools  and  Sun- 
day Schools  in  an  effort  to  reduce 
extravagance.  The  great  difficulty 


in  getting  anything  done  to  restrain 
the  extravagance  of  the  people,  ex- 
cept by  the  most  severe  penalty  of 
reducing  income,  is  due  to  the  fact 
that  the  public  has  no  organization, 
no  promotion  committees,  no  pub- 
licity director,  no  machinery  for 
getting  over  its  message  to  its  con- 
gress or  to  the  merchant,  by  the 
bale,  barrel  or  ton.  The  public  has 
no  paid  staff  of  letter-writers  nor 
does  it  invade  Washington  with 
delegations  that  have  their  ex- 
penses paid  by  the  man  or  interest 
managing  the  "popular  uprising." 
The  public  just  goes  about  its  reg- 
ular business  in  its  usual  way — ex- 
pressing freely  and  bluntly  to 
neighbors,  friends  and  acquaint- 
ances its  honest  opinion.  Individ- 
ual interests,  class  interests,  cor- 
porate interests,  all  have  an  or- 
ganization, a  purpose,  a  policy  and 
a  publicity  director. 

IN  BUILDING  GOOD-WILL  THE 
"S.&H."  DISCOUNT  SERVICE 
Is  "THE  TIE  THAT  BINDS" 
Every  retail  merchant  to-day  is 
after  volume,  that  is,  an  increase 
in  sales.  The  merchant  is  placing 
more  reliance  day  by  day  on  vol- 
ume of  sales  than  on  percentage  of 
profits  or  gains  so  that  overhead 
expenses  may  be  distributed  over 
a  larger  number  of  transactions. 
Some  of  this  change  of  sentiment 
is  due  to  scrutiny  of  general  trade 
statistics.  Two  years  ago  we  were 
thinking  in  terms  of  billions;  now 
we  are  getting  to  believe  in  mil- 
lions, or  perhaps  even  smaller 
amounts,  and  finally  when  people 


79 


GIVE    THE    PUBLIC    A     CHANCE 


get  to  the  point  that  they  are  nor- 
mal, the  economies  that  ought  to 
play  so  large  a  part  in  the  transac- 
tion of  business  will  show  them- 
selves and  be  the  only  cure  that  is 
worth  while.  In  other  words,  to 
the  extent  that  time-proved  meth- 
ods and  practices  are  followed  and 
produce  results  will  business  read- 
just itself  and  merchandising  go 
forward  in  the  sane  and  sober  way 
in  which  it  should. 

The  merchants,  therefore,  are 
making  the  strongest  appeal  to-day 
to  their  advertising  departments 
and  managers  for  an  increase  in 
sales.  Every  advertising  manager 
is  hired  with  the  idea  and  belief 
that  he  has  a  "magic  touch"  which 
he  can  apply  to  the  advertising 
copy  of  his  store  and  get  results 
and  show  increased  sales.  But  the 
Advertising  Department  or  the 
Advertising  Manager  has  never 
been  able  to  do  more  than  his  best. 
The  merchant,  therefore,  to  in- 
terest the  public  in  what  he  has  to 
sell  uses  other  forms  of  service. 
His  advertising  department  recog- 
nizing the  human  element,  the  un- 
organized condition  of  the  public, 
seeks  to  furnish  them  with  the  nec- 
essary information,  at  least,  to  at- 
tract their  attention  and  lure  their 
money  into  their  employer's  store. 
There  is  nothing  wrong  about  this 
procedure.  The  trouble,  if  any, 
lies  in  the  fact  that  the  public  can 
only  let  the  merchant  know  what 
he  wants  and  is  willing  to  pay  by 
refusing  to  trade.  He  has  no  other 
organization  with  which  to  "talk 
back"  and  let  his  policy  and  feel- 
ings be  known.  This  condition  will 
probably  always  exist  and  gives 
rise  to  the  necessity  for  the  "truth 
in  advertising,"  for  the  building  up 
on  the  part  of  the  merchant  of  a 
service  system  along  with  his  ad- 
vertising, which  is  co-ordinate  and 


which  is  co-operative.  This  serv- 
ice supplied  by  the  store  that  has 
the  goods  to  sell  should  be  organ- 
ized and  made  a  distinct  feature 
and  if  the  public  desires  it  and  ac- 
cepts it,  they  will  quickly  let  you 
know  by  an  increase  in  your  sales. 
You  have  given  the  public  the  chance 
that  they  were  looking  for,  and 
they  respond  or  not  according  to 
the  appeal. 

Our  service  is  founded  on  human 
desire  and  lives  because  of  it. 
Common  sense  is  sometimes  swal- 
lowed up  by  conceit,  ambition  and 
arrogance,  not  only  on  the  part  of 
an  over-prosperous  public  but  on 
the  part  of  the  merchants  who  have 
been  unduly  favored  in  the  past. 
The  "S.&H."  Stamp  Service, 
founded  twenty-five  years  ago  by 
Mr.  Thomas  A.  Sperry,  has  lived 
because  it  is  the  one  connecting  link 
between  the  merchant  who  uses  it 
and  the  human  desire  that  is  always 
inherent  in  the  heart  of  the  public. 
The  merchant  desires  to  increase 
his  sales,  to  build  good-will,  to  tie 
up  his  store  to  a  thousand  or  more 
consumers  in  his  community,  as 
against  his  competitor.  He  wants 
cash  trade.  And  cash  trade  is 
what  the  Discount  Service  of  The 
Sperry  &  Hutchinson  Company  is 
based  on.  The  consumers  have  a 
desire  to  get  all  they  can  for  their 
money  so  buy  where  they  get  this 
first.  The  Discount  Service  or 
principle  has  long  served  whole- 
salers, jobbers  and  retailers.  It 
has  for  twenty-five  years  existed 
between  the  retail  merchant  using 
"S.&H."  Stamps  and  the  con- 
sumer, and  the  justification  for  it 
all  is  that  in  spite  of  arrogance  and 
prejudice  on  the  part  of  a  few  mer- 
chants, their  unwillingness  to  use 
this  Service  to  build  good-will  and 
hold  trade,  many  thousands  of 
merchants  have  used  it  and  the 


80 


GIVE    THE    PUBLIC    A     CHANCE 


public  has  never  ceased  to  be  in- 
terested, never  ceased  to  gather 
the  coupons  and  stamps  of  The 
Sperry  &  Hutchinson  Company, 
and  have  thus  benefitted  by  over 
$100,000,000  in  cash  or  the  mer- 
chandise of  standard  quality  they 
have  received. 

Now  that  there  is  a  demand  for 
lower  prices  in  the  minds  of  every- 
body, everywhere,  and  an  accept- 
ance of  the  fact  that  our  readjust- 
ment problem  is  one  of  reducing 
prices,  and  by  so  doing  reducing  ex- 
penses, what  is  there  better  that 
the  merchant  can  do  than  to  build 
up  and  increase  his  business  and 
good-will  by  improvement  of  his 
service,  whether  it  is  through  his 
advertising,  through  his  well-as- 
sorted stock  of  merchandise  or 
through  the  service  he  offers  the 
public?  The  Thrift  Division  of 
the  Government  is  working  directly 


in  the  interests  of  reduced  costs  of 
living  and  doing  business,  and, 
while  the  Government's  campaign 
is  intended  to  be  absolutely  general 
and  to  mould  the  public  mind  to 
right  thinking  as  well  as  saving,  the 
opportunity  thus  created  is  lost  to 
the  retail  merchant  who  does  not 
use  the  "S.&H."  Discount  Service 
(Green  Trading  Stamp).  No  less 
an  organization  than  the  Associated 
Advertising  Clubs  of  the  World  has 
recognized  and  approved  the  use  of 
Trading  Stamps  so  far  as  they  were 
issued  by  good  merchants  as  a  dis- 
count for  cash  trade  and  as  a  means 
of  promoting  thrift.  Merchants 
cannot  only  co-operate  with  the 
Government  in  this  great  thrift 
movement,  but,  by  using  the 
"S.&H."  Service,  can  everywhere 
GIVE  THE  PUBLIC  A  CHANCE 
TO  DO  LIKEWISE. 


ASK  THE   MAN   WHO   KNOWS" 


WE  are  glad  to  have  you  in- 
vestigate us;  our  service; 
our   ethics;   our   financial 
standing,  and  our  twenty-five  years' 
experience  in  serving  the  twenty- 
five  thousand  or  more  merchants 
who,  by  entering  into  contract  with 
us,  have  developed  their  business 
as  we  have  ours. 

We  have  learned  to  furnish  a  dis- 
count service  and  they  (the  mer- 
chants) have  learned  to  use  it — to 
build,  to  hold,  and  to  increase  their 
cash  trade.  Some  who  were  doing 
one  million  a  year  when  they  com- 
menced with  us  are  now  doing  a 
five  million  a  year  business,  and 
others  doing  five  million  a  year 
business  are  now  doing  ten,  fifteen 
and  twenty  millions.  Stamps  did 
not  do  it  all,  but  for  what  they  cost 
they  produced  the  greatest  and 
best  results.  These  are  the  people 
to  whom  you  should  go  to  investi- 
gate us.  Go  to  them  without  prej- 
udice; tell  them  your  problem;  and 
by  comparing  notes  they  can  tell 
you  what  you  want  to  know.  They 
will  confirm  all  that  I  or  our  sales- 
men claim  for  the  "S.&H."  Dis- 
count Service,  and  you  will  be  im- 
pressed because  it  is  given  you  ex 
parte.  Something  always  tells  me 
a  salesman  may  grow  over-enthusi- 
astic or  that  he  must  naturally  pre- 
sent only  the  best  side.  You  want 
the  merchant's  story  from  the  mer- 
chant himself.  This  is  exactly 
what  I  would  want  and  is  what  I 
want  you  to  have.  I  only  ask  you 
to  get  it  from  a  merchant  that  has 
used  and  is  using  our  present 
Service. 


In  this  connection,  let  me  add 
that  our  "S.&H."  Discount  Service, 
while  still  a  Premium  Service,  is 
not  the  same  as  ten  years  ago.  If 
you  were  in  business  ten  years  ago 
you  would  confess  to  me,  I  know, 
that  you  had  learned  much  and 
was  a  better  merchant .  to-day  and 
that  your  store  was  equipped  to 
meet  all  competition  and  was 
strictly  up-to-date.  This  is  ex- 
actly what  we  must  do  and  have 
done — kept  up  with  our  progressive 
merchants  and  excel  any  other 
trading  stamp  service.  We  know 
what  it  means  to  serve.  We  know 
if  we  can't  do  better  by  our  mer- 
chants than  other  companies  in  our 
line,  or  put  the  individual  stamp  in 
the  shade,  that  we  could  not  live 
long.  Having  lived  twenty-five 
years  and  learned  to  serve  you  we 
have  resolved  to  continue  to  do  so 
and  do  it  better  each  year.  We 
therefore  want  you  to  know  all  you 
can  about  us,  and  after  you  have 
made  your  investigation  with  our 
merchants,  then  come  to  our  office, 
look  over  our  financial  condition. 
Every  merchant  is  interested  in  the 
company  that  has  the  responsibility 
of  the  redemption  of  stamps  he 
may  issue  in  being  sound  and  strong 
financially.  In  twenty-five  years 
we  have  never  defaulted  and  our 
capital  and  surplus  of  $1,500,000 
and  reserves  of  $2,000,000,  are  in- 
vested in  liquid  assets  purposely  to 
care  for  the  circulation  our  mer- 
chants create.  We  are  as  liquid  as 
any  bank,  and  while  we  cannot 
make  the  same  profits  (ours  being 
much  smaller)  we  hope  by  building 


ASK    THE    MAN    WHO    KNOWS" 


a  valuable  service  to  retail  mer-  cash    trade.     Delays    are    always 

chants  to  some  day  see  our  profits  dangerous.     The   competitor   may 

in  the  bankers'  class.     I  am  hoping  get  ahead  of  you.     Why  wait  when 

that   this,    our   twenty-fifth    anni-  a  20  or  25%  increase  in  your  vol- 

versary  year,  will  find  you  on  our  ume  spells  the  difference  between 

System  and  that  you  as  well  as  our-  profit  and  loss?     Just  remember  a 

selves  will  realize  that  we  can  each  book  of  "S.&H."  Green  Stamps  is 

help  the  other  in  a   business  way  worth  to-day  in  American  money  a 

and  together  teach  the  consuming  sum  equal  to  about  two  hundred 

public  where  to   trade  to  receive  and  twenty  German  marks, 
their    discount    (Thrift)    on    their 


83 


FIGURES,   FODDER  AND  FINANCE 


THE  merchant  each  day,  each 
month,  and  each  year  does 
much  or  little.  Whatever  he 
does  is  shown  by  figures.  This 
country  in  a  business  sense  is  pass- 
ing through  a  severe  depression; 
figures  each  month  tell  us  of  poor 
earnings — a  decrease  in  gross  and 
net,  and  at  the  close  of  the  year 
they  express  the  profit  and  loss  of 
our  year's  efforts.  Just  now  and 
for  some  time  our  figures  are  going 
to  create  dividend  suspension  and 
a  pessimistic  atmosphere.  A  Chi- 
cago banker,  just  back  from  Eu- 
rope, says: 

"The  United  States  has  gone 
further  than  any  other  nation  in 
liquidation  because  we  have  com- 
pelled it  all  along  the  line,  with  the 
merchant,  the  farmer  and  writh 
labor.  We  are  making  great  prog- 
ress, but  we  still  have  a  long  wray 
to  go  and  the  near  future  will  show 
poor  business.  We  will  work  out 
our  problems  more  quickly  than 
Europe  because  our  people  are  de- 
termined to  work  them  out,  but  we 
are  not  going  to  clear  up  everything 
in  the  next  few  months." 

The  story  they  tell  is  that  you 
are  not  making  money — perhaps 
losing  money.  You  are  therefore 
concerned  as  to  your  future,  to- 
morrow and  beyond.  Fodder  in 
this  instance  is  a  term  meant  to 
cover  living  expenses;  food,  rai- 
ment, and  rent,  etc.,  as  applied  to 
the  individual;  as  to  the  merchant 
it  means  sales.  This  is  the  only 
way  the  merchant  can  get  his  food, 
raiment  and  rent  regardless  of  a 
profit  on  labor  and  invested  capi- 


tal. Reports  are  that  the  number 
of  sales  show  a  slight  increase,  but 
in  dollars  the  volume  of  sales  is 
generally  33  J^  percent  to  40  per- 
cent below  two  years  ago,  arid  that 
with  a  fixed  overhead  your  profits 
have  gone  and  your  fodder  becomes 
a  capital  charge.  If  business  grows 
worse,  this  condition  will  grow 
worse.  Many  merchants  are  now 
down  to  the  quick  where  they  are 
living  out  of  the  capital  account. 
Very  soon  you  will  need  financial 
aid,  reorganization  with  new  cap- 
ital or  the  bankruptcy  court  to 
help  you  out.  Your  banker  has 
been  very  reasonable;  he  will  still 
continue  to  be ;  yet  he  must  protect 
the  capital  he  has  loaned  you. 

Don't  get  the  idea  that  I  am 
painting  this  picture  to  sell  you  the 
"S.&H."  Discount  Service.  Our 
co-operative  stamp  service  helps 
hold  trade  and  increases  sales.  It 
is,  therefore,  a  very  important  fac- 
tor in  retail  merchandising — has 
been  for  25  years  and  will  be  for 
years  to  come. 

The  thing  I  am  trying  to  get  over 
is  a  condition  that  surrounds  you 
and  me  and  that  affects  me  person- 
ally, affects  my  Company,  and  I 
know  affects  you,  and  is  not  only 
unsolved  but  not  always  under- 
stood by  the  merchant.  I  have 
previously  written  and  talked  about 
greater  and  better  CO-OPERA- 
TION. This  Company  built  its 
business  on  the  one  great  and  valu- 
able principle  CO-OPERATION 
and  has  reduced  it  to  a  practical 
thing  for  the  merchant  and  con- 
suming public.  I  am  justified, 


84 


FIGURES,    FODDER    AND    FINANCE 


therefore,  in  closing  this  letter  with 
an  extract  from  the  September  Re- 
view, published  by  the  National 
City  Bank  of  New  York: 

"It  is  not  difficult  to  see  what  is 
the  matter  with  industry  in  the 
United  States  and  over  the  world," 
continues  the  review.  "The  situ- 
ation is  practically  the  same  every- 
where. The  demoralization  and 
poverty  of  Europe  resulting  from 
the  war  is,  of  course,  a  factor  in  it, 
but  the  chief  cause,  even  in  Eu- 
rope, is  not  the  losses  of  the  war, 
but  the  unbalanced  state  of  indus- 
try as  between  the  producers  of 
primary  products  on  the  one  hand 
and  the  producers  of  manufactured 
products  and  the  groups  engaged 
in  trading  and  transportation  on 
the  other  hand.  South  America 
and  Asia  export  primary  products 
and  the  prices  are  so  low  that  their 
exports  do  not  balance  their  im- 
ports and  exchange  rates  are  so 
heavily  against  their  currencies  that 
their  purchases  are  restricted  both 
here  and  in  Europe.  Within  this 
country  we  have  similar  conditions. 
Trade  cannot  become  normal  until 
the  situation  changes. 

"It  is  a  rather  familiar  comment, 
and  not  a  profound  one,  that  there 
must  be  something  wrong  with  the 
existing  order  of  society.  Evi- 
dently there  is.  Briefly  stated,  in 
a  society  that  is  essentially  co-op- 
erative people  are  refusing  to  co- 
operate. We  have  developed  a 
highly  specialized  interdependent 


but  voluntary  system  of  industry, 
so  complicated  that  many  persons 
do  not  understand  the  relations  be- 
tween the  numerous  groups  who 
must  work  harmoniously  together 
to  make  the  organization  effective. 

"There  seems  to  be  nothing  to  do 
but  allow  the  economic  forces  to 
work  things  out  in  their  own  re- 
lentless way.  The  workers  in  each 
industry  have  the  privilege  of  say- 
ing that  they  will  not  come  down 
until  every  one  else  does,  and  per- 
haps not  then.  No  one  has  au- 
thority to  say  who  shall  come  down 
first  or  that  anyone  shall  come 
down.  It  will  have  to  be  settled 
among  themselves. 

"Meanwhile,  however,  millions 
of  men  are  idle  and  millions  in 
wages  are  being  lost.  It  is  a  pity 
the  agony  must  be  so  long  drawn 
out,  a  pity  the  inevitable  adjust- 
ments cannot  be  quickly  made, 
with  intelligent  co-operation  and 
spirit.  A  machine  cannot  be  started 
unless  all  its  parts  are  in  right  re- 
lation to  one  another;  a  factory 
cannot  be  operated  effectively  un- 
less all  the  departments  are  in  bal- 
ance with  one  another,  and  it  is  the 
same  with  the  industrial  organiza- 
tion of  the  country  and  of  the 
world." 

As  one  of  the  aids  to  better  and 
larger  distribution,  to  stabilizing 
SALES  and  to  holding  and  at- 
tracting CASH  trade,  we  are  doing 
our  "bit," 


85 


REACHING  THE  WOMAN  WHO   BUYS 


EVERY  home  has  its  purchas- 
ing agent,  and  her  name  is 
Woman.  According  to 
United  States  Government  statis- 
tics, 432,662  American  citizens  have 
incomes  in  excess  of  $5,000  per  an- 
num. Those  having  incomes  of 
$5,000  or  over  include  the  well-to- 
do  and  rich  class,  so  called.  There 
are  several  times  this  number  with 
incomes  of  less  than  $5,000  and 
many  that  do  not  get  incomes  suffi- 
cient to  be  required  to  pay  an  in- 
come tax.  Yet  all  are  consumers, 
and  all  who  are  organized  as  fami- 
lies with  homes  have  a  woman  in 
charge  of  the  purchasing.  She  is 
wide-awake,  progressive,  open  to 
suggestions,  loyal  to  her  trust,  hon- 
est, and  a  shrewd  bargainer.  The 
retail  stores  are  where  she  shops, 
meets  her  friends  and  acquires  an 
important  part  of  her  business  edu- 
cation. She  has  the  money,  the 
home  income,  and  she  has  the  au- 
thority to  buy  the  thing  you  are 
trying  to  sell.  Every  home  has 
well-defined  wants  which  are  dis- 
cussed in  the  family  circle,  and  the 
woman  in  the  home  is  conscious  of 
these  wants  every  hour  of  the  day 
and  every  day  of  the  year.  Not 
alone  are  wants  of  the  home  dis- 
cussed, but  equally  and  even  more 
the  purchases  made;  and  these  are 
not  discussed  at  home  only,  but 
with  neighbors  and  friends  if  for  no 
other  reason  than  to  learn  by  com- 
parison whether  they  are  good  bar- 
gains in  quality  and  value ;  but  also 
as  a  matter  of  education.  It  has 
been  estimated  these  women  spend 
90%  of  the  family  income  and  the 


sooner  you  concentrate  your  efforts 
to  secure  their  trade  the  quicker 
and  greater  will  be  your  success. 

For  twenty-five  years  the  Amer- 
ican woman  purchasing  agent  has 
been  the  friend  of  the  "S.&H." 
Green  Trading  Stamp  until  I  am 
willing  to  accept  what  so  many 
merchants  can  truthfully  say,  it  is 
a  woman's  proposition;  they  like  it 
and  they  not  only  trade  where  the 
stamps  are  given,  but  they  talk  it 
over  at  home  and  with  their  neigh- 
bors. What  they  receive  is  some- 
thing extra — something  they  would 
not  otherwise  be  able  to  have  in 
many  cases.  Families  with  bare 
living  incomes  can  afford  few  lux- 
uries; hence  are  the  most  fruitful 
customers  of  the  merchant  using 
our  Stamp  Discount  System.  It  is 
a  waste  of  your  sales  effort  and  ad- 
vertising appropriation  to  include 
them  in  your  mailing  list.  The 
mailing  list  is  only  good  in  the 
homes  having  a  margin  of  income 
above  expenses,  but  thousands  of 
successful  merchants  have  told  us 
from  experience  with  our  Stamp 
Service  that  homes  of  the  rich  as 
well  as  the  poorer  classes  ask  for 
their  discount  and  appreciate  it. 

The  point  I  desire  to  make  is  that 
if  you  desire  to  reach  the  woman 
who  buys,  "The  Chancellor  of  the 
Exchequer"  of  the  home,  there  is 
nothing  more  effective  that  you 
can  use  than  the  "S.&H."  Green 
Stamp.  The  woman  knows  it — 
knows  how  to  collect  them — where 
to  redeem  them — and  appreciates 
the  discount  however  trifling  it 
may  appear  to  be  to  us  men.  I 


REACHING    THE    WOMAN     WHO    BUYS 


have  a  wife  and  daughter  who  are 
typical  woman  bargainers  and  sur- 
prise me  every  little  while  by  their 
collection  of  stamps,  coupons,  tags, 
wrappers,  and  other  tokens  which 
they  collect,  convert,  and  then  se- 
cure something  they  value  for  their 
use  or  my  own  use.  Twice  to  my 
knowledge  have  I  been  given  a 
Christmas  gift — once  a  leather 
chair  and  once  a  Gillette  Safety — 
purchased  with  "S.&H."  Green 
Stamps.  The  home  itself  contains 
numerous  useful  articles  thus  pur- 
chased— an  ice-cream  freezer,  alum- 
inum ware,  electrical  appliances, 
silverware  and  cut  glass,  carpet- 
sweeper,  etc.,  until  I  too  have  to 
admit  Stamps  are  worth  saving, 
and  I  now  add  my  mite  by  saving 
coupons  on  cigars  purchased  and 
turn  them  over  to  them,  or  stamps 
given  me  when  I  purchase  men's 
wear.  Why  shouldn't  I  or  any 
other  man?  We  will  figure  with 
other  men  to  save  the  cent.  Why 
should  we  ignore  a  book  of  Stamps 
worth  much  more? 

Fortunately  the  woman  who  does 
most  of  our  family  shopping  is  not 
only  thrifty,  but  practical;  is  not 
only  practical,  but  a  shopper,  a 
bargainer,  and  has  a  desire — not 
truly  womanly  but  truly  human— 
of  making  her  money  buy  all  it  will. 
She  discusses  her  purchases;  the 
prices  she  paid  for  her  groceries; 


her  drugs;  her  shoes;  her  clothing; 
and  does  not  fail  to  exclaim  and  "I 
GOT  THIS  WITH  MY 
STAMPS."  She  is  your  best  ad- 
vertiser, if  she  secured  the  stamps 
at  your  store,  because  thereby  you 
have  reached  the  woman  who  buys. 
Count  the  men  and  women  for  an 
hour  in  most  any  store  and  note 
how  many  more  women  there  are, 
and  it  will  confirm  all  I  have  said. 
Watch  them  wait  in  line  at  a  stain]) 
booth  to  get  their  stamps;  then 
visit  one  of  our  stores  and  watch 
them  redeem  their  books.  Some 
are  there  with  one  book,  some  two, 
some  with  several,  with  the  same 
shopping  instinct  to  get  the  most 
they  can  for  it.  Not  only  do  they 
redeem  but  make  selections  for  the 
future  and  commence  at  once  to 
trade  where  they  can  get  Stamps 
to  fill  more  books.  It  is  this  un- 
organized body  of  millions  of 
women  buyers,  plus  our  organiza- 
tion, plus  yours,  that  build  sales 
and  keeps  the  factories  running. 
We,  like  yourselves,  are  merchants 
co-operating  to  build  sales  and  aid 
in  the  great  problem  of  distribution 
through  those  merchants  using  our 
System.  It  is  practical;  it  is  last- 
ing; it  is  ethical,  psychological,  and 
scientific.  It  is  the  tie  that  binds 
as  nothing  else  will  do.  Ask  the 
merchant  that  uses  it. 


87 


CHARACTER  AND  CREDIT 


GIVING  of  credit  is  a  matter 
which  has  become  increas- 
ingly important  of  late.  The 
hazard  of  it  is  not  the  only  feature, 
although  it  is  by  no  means  one  to 
be  ignored.  Insurance  people  know 
that,  when  business  is  bad,  the  fire 
risk  becomes  greater,  and  credit 
men  are  aware  that,  under  similar 
conditions,  the  temptation  is 
stronger  to  resort  to  tactics  to  avoid 
paying  debts.  In  a  falling  market 
there  is  a  strain  put  upon  persons 
who  find  values  have  shrunk  ma- 
terially between  the  time  of  placing 
an  order  and  that  for  the  delivery 
of  goods.  The  honest  merchant 
will  take  the  loss  caused  by  his  error 
of  judgment  and  preserve  the  busi- 
ness reputation  which  is  one  of  his 
chief  assets.  This  is  the  case  with 
old-established  houses.  But,  dur- 
ing the  boom  period,  a  lot  of  con- 
cerns sprang  up  to  rake  in  some  of 
the  easy  money  that  was  to  be  had. 
They  had  no  traditions  or  reputa- 
tion to  uphold.  When  values 
dropped  they  either  repudiated 
their  obligations  on  some  technical- 
ity or  other  which  the  loose  form 
of  contracting  permitted,  or  else 
went  to  the  wall.  Those  that  sur- 
vived are  finding  it  rather  hard 
sledding  to  get  credit  from  sellers. 
In  some  instances,  indeed,  they  are 
told  their  business  is  not  wanted, 
this  being  true  in  the  cases  where 
an  allotment  of  goods  is  made.  At 
other  times  they  find  that  they  can- 
not secure  as  early  deliveries  as  are 
afforded  more  scrupulous  dealers. 
The  upshot  of  it  all  is  that  many 
are  discovering  that  character  is  a 


real  tangible  asset  which  counts  in 
business. 

Financial  statements  are  being 
more  closely  examined  just  now 
than  ever  before,  and  most  credit 
men  are  eliminating  many  of  the 
allowances  which  they  formerly 
made  for  different  asset  items. 

Fixtures,  money  loaned  and  other 
items  which  were  formerly  allowed 
to  bolster  credit  standing,  get  no 
consideration  these  days,  and  many 
new  elements  have  entered  into  the 
determination  of  the  net  worth  of 
debtors.  A  financial  statement 
came  into  my  hands  a  short  time 
ago  that  showed  a  balance  of  $110,- 
000  on  the  right  side,  without  con- 
sidering the  value  of  equipment, 
good-will,  etc.  It  was  necessary, 
however,  to  shave  down  that  sum 
to  $85,000,  and  we  were  not  so  sure 
the  concern  was  soundly  condi- 
tioned at  that.  They  claimed  $10,- 
000  cash  in  bank  and  $100,000 
worth  of  stock.  Ordinarily  there 
would  be  no  disputing  the  cash 
item,  but  examination  showed  that 
this  was  probably  kept  to  meet 
acceptances  as  they  fell  due,  and 
there  were  plenty  of  these  docu- 
ments outstanding. 

The  merchandise,  or  stock  item, 
is  probably  the  most  important 
factor  at  present  in  a  financial 
statement,  and  has  to  be  very  care- 
fully figured  out.  It  is  safe  to  say 
that  every  concern  making  a  finan- 
cial statement  is  giving  itself  the 
benefit  of  any  doubt  concerning 
the  full  value  of  the  merchandise  it 
owns.  An  accurate  appraisal  would 
show  discrepancies,  and  particu- 


88 


CHARACTER    AND     CREDIT 


larly  now  when  the  market  value  of 
all  goods  is  showing  constant  de- 
preciation. In  the  statement  I  re- 
ferred to  we  scaled  down  the  mer- 
chandise valuation  25  percent., 
from  $100,000  to  $75,000,  and  let 
the  cash  remain  at  $10,000,  but 
with  some  doubts,  and  thus  pro- 
vided a  net  worth  of  $85,000. 

A  larger  reduction  in  the  value  of 
the  merchandise  would  be  entirely 
equitable,  because  the  rule  of 
thumb  practice  just  now  is  to  con- 
sider only  "under  the  hammer" 
value.  This  is  why  the  credit  man 
cannot  accept  the  valuation  put  on 
fixtures  and  equipment,  however 
estimable  they  may  be  judged  by 
the  owner.  Such  things  are  not 
worthless,  but  their  auction  price 
is  decidedly  nominal  with  condi- 
tions what  they  are. 

Where  receivables  are  concerned, 
another  uncertain  element  enters, 
especially  where  the  amounts  are 
owed  to  retailers.  Business  re- 
verses of  customers  and  unemploy- 
ment have  their  effect  in  causing 
slow  payment,  and  bills  owed  to 
stores  and  tradesmen  are  often  the 
last  to  be  settled.  The  sums  tied 
up  in  bills  waiting  payment,  there- 
fore, get  scant  consideration  nowa- 
days when  they  appear  in  credit 
statements,  although  they  rank 
higher  than  fixed  assets. 

In  determining  a  safe  basis  for 
granting  credit,  the  accepted  ratio 
between  merchandise  and  cash  as- 
sets and  indebtedness  is,  at  present, 
two  to  one.  The  net  worth  is  fig- 
ured out  the  way  I  have  described. 

Sales  in  their  relation  to  indebt- 
edness mark  another  important 
question  in  present  credits.  There 
are  concerns  being  refused  further 
credit  for  the  simple  reason  that 
there  is  little  hope  of  them  over- 
coming the  load  of  their  indebted- 
ness. 


It  may  be  shown  that  a  period  of 
five  or  six  months  is  required  to 
meet  present  indebtedness,  even 
though  net  worth  appears  satisfac- 
tory. In  computing  the  time  nec- 
essary to  make  sales  sufficient  to 
meet  current  bills,  the  credit  man 
should  deduct  about  25  percent, 
as  cost  of  doing  business  from  the 
sales  over  the  period.  Thus,  a 
store  doing  $120,000  a  year  may 
roughly  be  figured  to  spend  some 
$30,000  on  expenses.  Over  $13,- 
000  worth  of  business  a  month  is 
required  to  pay  off  bills  of  $10,000 
a  month.  And  the  mistake  must 
not  be  made  of  expecting  sales  in 
dollars  and  cents  to  equal  those  of 
last  year.  The  same  factor  of  de- 
preciation that  affects  merchandise 
valuations  must  also  be  applied  to 
sales,  which  makes  necessary  set- 
ting a  longer  time  for  the  meeting 
of  obligations. 

All  told,  the  consideration  of 
credits  at  present  indicates  new 
problems  which  must  be  studied  in 
the  light  of  new  conditions,  and  not 
on  the  basis  of  rules  that  worked 
all  right  in  the  past.  A  thorough 
overhauling  of  credit  principles  is 
under  way  and,  if  the  task  is  put 
off  by  credit  men,  the  results  are 
likely  to  be  disastrous  for  them. 

The  best  remedy  for  credit  is 
cash  and  the  merchant  himself 
must  apply  the  remedy  if  anyone. 
He  would  do  it  oftener  than  he  does 
except  for  competition  and  a  drop 
in  sales.  I  cannot  refrain  from 
suggesting  that  The  Sperry  &  Hut- 
chinson  Co.'s  Service  whereby  you 
pay  the  customer  2}/2%  for  not 
only  trading  at  your  store,  but  for 
paying  cash  for  what  they  buy  ac- 
complishes two  things  always,  but 
now  more  than  ever  of  prime  im- 
portance, holding  trade  and  de- 
creasing credit. 

The  character  and  financial  stand- 


si) 


CHARACTER    AND    CREDIT 


ing  of  the  "S.&H."  Co.  is  of  the  pense,  and  a  large  use  of  credit  at 

highest — so  may  be  your  store,  yet  high    rates.     As    we    are    helping 

you  are  face  to  face  with  conditions  thousands  of  merchants  to-day  so 

that  tie  up  capital — may  involve  we  can  help  you  reduce  your  credit 

loss,     certainly     bookkeeping     ex-  sales  and  build  up  your  trade. 


90 


Special  Limited  Anniversary  Edition  of  which  this  is 


PRESS   OF    WILLIAM    GHEKN,    NKW    YORK 


RETURN     CIRCULATION  DEPARTMENT 

TO—  •*      202  Main  Library 

LOAN  PERIOD  1 
HOME  USE 

2 

3 

4 

5 

6 

ALL  BOOKS  MAY  BE  RECALLED  AFTER  7  DAYS 

Renewals  and  Recharges  may  be  made  4  days  prior  to  the  due  date. 

Books  may  be  Renewed  by  calling     642-3405. 

DUE  AS  STAMPED  BELOW 


MUBiK  MAR  1 


OWED 

ow,  or 

»calL 


FORM  NO.  DD6, 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA,  BERKELEY 
BERKELEY,  CA  94720 


YC  05288 


U.C.  BERKELEY  LIBRARIES 


CDDbDSS37M 


M194558 


THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 


'-  •  * '  *.  *  • 


